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OVERLAND  KULTE  TU  KLONDIKE 


ALASKA 

AND  THE 

KLONDIKE  GOLD  FIELDS 

CONTAINING 

A  FULL  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  DISCOVERY  OF  GOLD ;  ENORMOUS 

DEPOSITS  OF  THE  PRECIOUS  METAL;    ROUTES 

TRAVERSED  BY  MINERS;  HOW  TO 

FIND  GOLD;  CaMP  LIFE 

AT  KLONDIKE 

Practical  Instructions  for  Fortune  Seekers,  Etc.,  Etc. 

INCLUDING  A 

GRAPHIC  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  GOLD  REGIONS;  LAND  OP 

WONDERS;  IMMENSE  MOUNTAINS,  RIVERS  AND 

PLAINS;  NATIVE  INHABITANTS,  ETC. 

By  a.  C  HARRIS 

The  Well-Known  Author  and  Traveler 
INCLUDING 

Mrs.  Eli  Gage's  Experiences  of  a  Year  amongf  the  Yukon  Mining 

Camps ;  Mrs.  Schwatka*s  Recollections  of  her  husband  as 

the  Alaskan  Pathfinder;  Prosaic  Side  of  Gold 

Hunting,  as  seen  by  Joaquin  Miller, 

the  Poet  of  the  Sierras 


EMBELLISHED  WITH   MANY  ENGRAVINGS  REPRESENTING 
MIMNG  AND  OTHER  SCENES  IN  ALASKA 


Monroe   Book   Company, 
CHICAGO,  ILL. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1897  by 

J.     R.     JONES, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 

All  Rights  Reserved. 


PREFACE. 

KLONDIKE  is  the  magic  word  that  is  thrilHng  the  whole 
country.  It  stands  for  millions  of  gold  and  great  for- 
tunes for  hundreds  of  miners,  who  have  risen  from 
poverty  to  affluence  in  the  brief  period  of  a  few  months.  Thou- 
sands are  reading  of  fortunes  made  in  the  .Klondike  Gold 
Fields,  and  thousands  of  others  are  turning  their  longing  eyes 
toward  the  new  El  Dorado. 

The  old  Spanish  dreams  of  a  wonderful  realm  somewhere 
in  the  Western  Continent,  made  of  gold  and  precious  stones, 
-seem  almost  on  the  point  of  being  realized.  Not  since  1849, 
when  the  marvellous  discoveries  of  gold  were  made  in  Cali- 
fori.ia,  has  there  been  such  excitement  among  all  classes  of 
people. 

Everybody  wants  to  know  the  real  facts  concerning  the  new 
discoveries.  On  ever}-  hand  there  is  an  eagerness  for  the 
most  reliable  information,  which  is  furnished  by  this  new  and 
comprehensive  work,  containing  a  full  description  of  Alaska 
and  the  Gold  Regions.  The  author  writes  from  personal  ex- 
perience and  observation,  as  he  has  been  an  eye-witness  of 
the  scenes,  incidents  and  facts  which  he  describes  and  narrates. 

The  work  gives  a  complete  account  of  the  rise  of  the  gold 
fever,  the  excitement  produced  by  the  news  of  unlimited 
deposits  of  the  precious  metal ;  the  rush  of  miners  seeking 
fortunes  at  Klondike ;  hasty  preparations  for  the  long  and 
perilous  journey ;  and  the  formation  of  companies  eager  to 
take  possession  of  the  region  abounding  in  untold  wealth. 
The  thousands  of  prospectors  hurrying  to  the  Gold  Fields  give 
us  a  picture  of  the  rush  to  California  when  the  discoveries  of 
gold  were  made  in  that  State  in   1849. 

:iii) 


iv  PRr:i"ACE. 

How  to  get  there  is  a  question  fully  answered  in  this  vol- 
ume. The  different  routes  are  described,  together  with  the  best 
modes  of  transportation.  This  work  tells  you  what  is  required 
for  the  trip  ;  the  clothing,  food  and  implements  that  are  needed ; 
the  hardships  and  dangers  to  be  encountered  ;  the  difficulties 
arising  from  extreme  cold  in  winter,  and  all  the  trying  expe 
riences  awaiting  the  gold-seekers. 

Alaska  is  a  land  of  wonders.  It  is  a  vast  region  and  one 
of  the  least  known,  yet  one  of  the  most  remarkable  countries 
in  the  whole  world.  Its  history  is  fully  related  ;  its  purchase 
by  our  Government  from  Russia ;  its  slow^  development  and  its 
peculiar  characteristics.  It  has  vast  tracts  of  primeval  forests; 
mountains  of  awful  sublimity  ;  rivers  that  rival  the  largest  in 
other  parts  of  the  world  ;  Arctic  snows  and  summer  foliage 
and  flowers ;  deep  canons  and  grand  water-falls ;  solitudes 
peopled  only  by  polar  bears  and  other  fur-bearing  animals  ;  and 
weird  scenes  that    startle  the  beholder  and  fill   him  with  awe. 

These  are  all  viviJly  described,  together  with  the  towns  and 
settlements  ;  the  appearance,  habits  and  customs  of  the  native 
inhabitants  ;  the  climate  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  and 
the  progress  of  civilization  up  to  the  present  time  The  min- 
eral resources  and  wealth  of  Alaska  are  fully  treated,  showing^ 
it  to  be  a  country  rich  in  natural  products.  Its  important 
fisheries  and  possibilities  for  agriculture  are  all  set  forth,  to- 
gether with  its  industries,  including  its  famous  traffic  in  seals. 

How  to  mine  for. gold  is  a  subject  on  which  the  informa- 
tion is  most  complete  and  valuable.  The  reader  follows  the 
miners  to  their  camps  ;  learns  the  process  by  which  they  extract 
the  precious  metal  from  the  recesses  where  it  is  stored ;  how 
it  is  separated  from  the  ore  ;  what  machinery  is  employed, 
and  what  are  the  most  successful  methods  for  obtaining  the 
coveted  prize. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    I. 

LAND    OF  THE   ARGONAUTS. 

A  Country  Frozen  by  the  Lapse  of  Time — Discovery  of  Gold  Not  New — 
News  is  Flashed  Over  the  World  and  Creates  a  Furore — Old  Dig- 
gings are  Soon  Abandoned — EflFect  of  the  Find  on  the  People  of  the 
United  States  and  on  the  Money  Centres  of  the  World — Region 
which  may  Properly  be  called  the  Land  of  Gold  once  Thought  so 
Worthless  the  Russians  Offered  to  Give  it  Away  for  Nothing — 
Testimony  as  to  the  Richness  of  the  Deposits — The  Popular 
Demand  for  Information  as  to  the  Country,  its  Inhabitants, 
Scenery,  Resources  and  the  Like — Camp  Life  and  Experiences  .    .      17 

CHAPTER  n. 
SPREAD  OF  THE  KLONDIKE  FEVER. 

Arrival  of  the  Portland  with  more  than  a  Ton  of  Gold  on  Board — 
Miners  Tell  of  their  Marvelous  Strikes — Gold  and  the  Aborigines 
— First  Great  Gold  Craze — Prospecting  in  Early  Dajs — Rich  Gold 
Discovery  on  Bonanza  Creek — Argonauts  Flock  to  the  Steamers 
— Scenes  at  the  Wharves — Companies  Formed  in  Response  to 
the  Rush — Millions  of  Money  and  Thousands  of  Men — Craze  in 
Wall  Street — Royalty  Affected — Money  in  Grub-stakes — ^Joaquin 
Miller  Lender  Waj- — "  Lucky  "  Baldwin  After  Mother  Lode — 
Bright  and  Dark  Sides  of  Story 33 

CHAPTER  III. 

"STRIKE  IT  RICH"  ON  KLONDIKE. 

Gold-seekers  who  "  Made  their  Pile  "  in  the  Placers — Tales  Brought 
Back  by  Returning  Argonauts — Fabulous  Stakes  made  b}-  Novices 
— The  ' '  Tenderfoot ' '  Has  His  Day — Clarence  J.  Berry,  the  ' '  Barney 
Barnato  "  of  the  Diggings— His  Wonderful  Streak  of  Luck — Gives 
the  Credit  to  His  Wife — Captain  McGregor's  Wonderful  Panning 
Results — Fortune  Favors  an  Indiana  Boy — Some  of  the  Dark  Sides, 
by  People  who  Saw  Them — Miners  Go  Insane — Death  on  the  Glacier 
—Hard  Work  and  Lack  of  Supplies — Advice  of  a  California  Pioneer      75 

(V) 


vi  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IV. 
HOW  TO   GET  THERE. 

Main  Routes  to  the  Klondike — By  Water  and  Land — Voyage  via  St. 
Michael's — Trip  Up  the  Yukon — Choice  of  Trails  via  Juneau  and 
Dyea— In  by  Chilkoot  Pass— Over  the  Chilkat— The  White  Pass 
Route — Lieutenant  Schwatka's  Trail  via  Taku — By  Way  of  Fort 
Wrangel  and  Lake  Teslin — Railroads  Suggested — The  ' '  Back  T^oor  " 
Route — Up  the  Copper  River — By  Moose  Factory  and  Chester  ncid 
Inlet — Other  Trails — Telegraph  and  Telephone — Postal  Service — 
Outfits  for  Miners — List  of  Necessaries 12^ 

CHAPTER  V. 
A  LAND  OF  WONDERS. 

Land  of  the  Midnight  Sun — Great  Distances — Primitive  Conveyances —  ■> 
Terrors  of  the  Arctic  Regions — World  of  Wonders — Dangers  of 
Travel — A  Great  Glacier — A  Frozen  Cataract — Beautiful  Scenery 
— Rush  of  Torrents — Marvelous  Sunsets — Great  Yukon  River — 
Caiion  of  Lewis  River — Dominion  of  the  Frost  King — Towering 
Volcanoes — The  Winter  Moon — A  Country  of  Romance — Totem 
Poles — Salmon  Fisheries — Vast  Solitudes — The  Alaskan  Natives.    .    182 

CHAPTER    \T. 
WOMEN  AT  THE  MINES. 

Schemes  for  Obtaining  Wealth — Mrs.  Gage  and  Mrs.  Schwatka  in  the 
Frozen  North — The  Mosquito  Pest — ^Juneau  and  the  Lynn  Canal — 
Climbing  the  Mountains — Difficulties  of  Mining — Scarcity  of  Game 
— The  Scurvy  Terror — Morals  of  Klondike  Mining  Camps — 
Female  Enterprise — Scarcity  of  Amusements — Sisterhood  of  St. 
Anne — The  Four-leaf  Clover — Bridal  Trip  to  Klondike — Romance 
of  Joseph  Ladue — Women's  Klondike  Syndicate — A  Lucky  Seam- 
stress     210 

CHAPTER  VH. 
POET  OF  THE  SIERRAS'  VISION. 

Rushes  off  to  the  Diggings  at  the  First  Report — Mining  in  '49 — Goes 
in  to  Rough  It — Carries  His  Own  Pack,  Pick  and  Pan — W;!l  Hunt 


CONTENTS.  vii 

for  a  Good  Job— Coming  Back  With  Bed-rock  Facts— Contradicts 
Some  Horse  Stories — Schemes  of  the  Pioneers — Not  a  Pistol  in  the 
Crowd— One  Way  to  Get  Bear  Meat— Recalls  Other  Big  Strikes — 
On  Mary  Island — With  Father  Duncan's  Flock — No  Jail  Noi  Police 
at  Metlakahtia — Hay  on  the  Klondike — None  Coming  From  Yukon 
— Frolic  with  Indian  Children 245 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

HISTORY  AND  PURCHASE  OF  ALASKA. 

One  of  the  Happiest  Deals  Ever  Made  by  American  Statesmen — 
Seward's  Glory — His  Prophecy  on  Retiring  to  Private  Life  Verified 
— Comparatively  Few  People  in  the  Territory — Story  of  the  Early 
Days  of  Russian  Occupation — The  First  Massacre — Country  Once 
Offered  to  the  United  States  for  Nothing — Appropriation  for 
Mone}-  to  Pay  for  the  Tract  Opposed  b}-  Congress  Bitterly — Efforts 
to  Provide  Country  with  a  Government — Interior  containing  Gold 
Fields  once  thought  Worthless  was  Parceled  Out  in  Thirds  between 
as  many  Nations — Recent  History 256 

CHAPTER  IX. 
TOPOGRAPHY. 

Country  of  Vast  Extent  and  Remarkable  Features — Like  an  Ox's  Hea  I 
Inverted — Yukon  District  Described  as  a  Great  Moorland — Its 
Archipelago  a  Wonderland  of  Immense  Mountain  Peaks — Legends 
of  the  Indians  are  Many — Tributes  of  Visitors  to  the  Wilderness 
Magnificent  Auroral  Displays — The  Reports  Brought  Back  as  to  the 
Differences  of  Temperature — Mr.  Weare  Gives  Some  Interesting 
Information — Bitter  Cold  in  the  Region  in  Which  the  Mines  are 
Located 281 

CHAPTER   X. 

FLORA,  FAUNA  AND  CLIMATE. 

Agricultural  Industries  in  Alaska — Vegetables  and  Small  Fruits  in  the 
Southeastern  Portion — Grasses  and  Fodder — Panorama  of  Blossoms 
in  the  Short  Summer — Seasons  in  the  Yukon  Basin — Sea  Otters 
and  Fur  Seals — Food  Animals  and  Caruivorae — Moose  and  Caribou 
— Value  of  Pelts — Fish  of   the  Territorj- — Salmon    Canning   and 


viii  *  CONTENTS. 

Salting — A  Dog  Fish  Story — Birds  of  Alaska — Among  Ibc  Ceta- 
ceans— Mosquitos  and  Gnats — Weather  Bureau  Report — Tempera- 
ture at  Klondike — Animals  and  Vegetation  in  British  Columbia  .    .    2<.)5 

CHAPTER  XI. 

INDUSTRIES  AND  INDUSTRIAI.  DEVELOPMENT. 

Chief  Occupations  of  the  Natives  and  the  Settlers — The  Four  Remark- 
able Seal  Islands — How  the  Animals  Have  Been  Ruthlessly 
Slaughtered — When  the  Fur  is  at  Its  Best — The  Great  Fishing  Plants 
of  the  Country — Alaska  the  Home  of  the  Salmon^Cod  and  Other 
Fish  Abound — Trapping  and  Hunting  on  the  Decline — Current 
Belief  that  the  Outlook  for  Lumbering  is  Not  Good — Probability 
that  this  Opinion  may  be  Reversed  by  Later  Discover^' — Trees  on 
the  Islands — Agricultural  Development  one  of  the  Great  Needs  at 
the  Present  Time — Land  Simply  Needs  Tilling — Vegetables  and 
Berries  Grown  in  Quantities — Reports  of  Travelers 324 

CHAPTER  XII. 

RESOURCES  AND  WEALTH. 

■Record  as  a  Fur  Country — State  of  Development  Twenty  Years  Ago — 
How  the  Golden  Treasures  were  Discovered  and  Developed — Re- 
port of  Geological  Survey  Expert  Spurr — Professor  Elliott's  Review 
—Alaska  Richer  than  Klondike — West  of  the  Coast  Range^Mint  • 
Director  Preston's  Views — United  States  Leads  the  World  in  Gold 
Production — From  the  Alaska  Mining  Record — Value  of  Yukon 
Gold — Cook's  Inlet  Diggings — Some  Scattered  Streaks — Experts 
in  the  Field — ^John  W.  Mackey  Quoted — Other  Mineral  Resources — 
Canadian  Report 349 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

GOLD  MINING  IN  ALASKA. 

Antiquity  of  Placer  Mining — How  Nature  has  Filled  the  Gravel  with 
Gold— Selecting  a  Locality — Building  a  House— Out  Prospecting — 
Thawing  the  Ground — How  to  Distinguish  Gold  from  other  Minerals 
— Pyrites,  INIica,  Black  Sand — Mechanical  Assay— Locating  the 
Claim — Local  Customs — Commissioner  Hcrrman's  Digest— Getting 
Out  the  Gold— Mining  in  Winter — Work  Along  the  Yukon — Sluic- 


CONTENTS.  ix 

ing  for  Gold — Dry  Placer  Miners — Dredging  for  Gold — Old  Miner's 
Advice — Gold-bearing  Quartz — How  Gold  Came  to  Klondike — 
Banks  and  Banking 375 

CHAPTER    XIV. 
RESUME  OF  MINING  LAWS. 

Law  and  Order — Fees  for  Mining — Rights  of  Miners — Quartz  Mining — 
Surveys  and  Reservations — Voice  of  the  Press — Penalties  Imposed 
— Call  for  United  States  Troops — Size  of  Claims — Canadian  Laws    .    402 

CHAPTER   XV. 
GOLD  CRAZES  OF  OTHER  DAYS. 

Mining  Excitements  in  Other  Countries — Australia  and  South  Africa  lay 
the  Old  World  under  Tribute — Outbreaks  of  the  Fever  in  America 
— Early  Case  in  North  Carolina — Stampede  of  '49 — '-Pike's  Peak 
or  Bust  "^Recollections  of  the  Argonauts — The  Rock}'  Belle  Camp 
Craze — Rush  to  Stevens'  Claim — Excitement  About  Tombstone — 
Placers  in  Baja,  California — Harqua  Hala  Diggings — Randsburg  and 
Its  Boom — Comparisons  with  Klondike — What  the  Early  Stampedes 
Cost  in  Cash  and  Life 422 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
SIDE-LIGHTS. 

Oddities  and  Freaks  of  the  Klondike  Craze — To  the  Gold  Fields  via 
Baloon — Bicycles  for  Argonauts — Swim  or  Slide — Fancy  Stock 
in  Dogs — Chopping  Wood  to  Pay  Passage — Grub-stakers  and 
"Angels" — Schemes  of  Worn-out  Prospectors — Clairvoyants  as 
Gold-finders — Mining  Stocks  and  Sharpers — Magic  in  the  Name — 
Barber's  Syndicate — Sleuths  to  the  Yukon — Samples  of  Argonauts 
— Freaks  of  "  Tenderfeet  " — Bogus  Bureaus — Hard  Work  to  Keep 
Gold — Gamblers  and  Miners — Type  of  a  Miner's  Paper 440 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

CAMP  LIFE  AND  MORALS. 

Mining  Towns  in  the  Alaskan  Wilderness  Similar  to  Other  Rude  Com- 
munities, with  such  Peculiarities  as  are  Born  of  Climatic  and  Topo- 


CONTEXTS. 

graphical  Features — All  Have  Their  Social  Amenities — The  Bible 
and  Shakespeare  Appeal  to  the  Literary  Tastes  of  the  Fortune 
Seekers — Watching  of  Property  Early  a  Necessity — Sharpers  Lose 
no  Time  in  Getting  in  Their  Work — Gamblers  also  Flock  Toward 
the  Yukon  to  Intercept  the  Returning  Miners  and  Fleece  Them — 
Whiskey  Trade  Flourishes  in  the  Wilds 453 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 
DOMESTIC  LIFE  IN  THE  WILDS. 

Miners'  Experiences  not  those  of  a  mere  Romantic  Sojourn  in  the 
Wilderness — Absence  of  Conveniences  and  Comforts — The  Older 
Towns  Antiquated  and,  during  the  Gold  Craze,  Overcrowded — 
Graphic  Pictures  of  Skaguay,  Dawson  City,  Circle  City,  and  Camp 
Lake  Liuderman — Hotel  Project  for  the  Territory  that  Promises  to 
be  the  Means  of  Furnishing  a  Larger  Quota  of  Comforts — Women's 
Influence  on  the  Domestic  Life — Some  of  Those  Who  Grace  the 
Camps  with  their  Presence,  and  the  Particular  Line  of  Work  to 
which  they  Devote  Themselves — Sisters  of  Mercy  for  the  Sick  and 
Dying,  and  Sisters  of  Cookery  for  the  Well      465 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
ETHNOGRAPHY, 

Census  of  Alaska— Russian  Estimates  of  Population — Classification  of 
the  Indians — History  of  the  Thlinkets — Characteristics  Suggestive 
of  Asiatic  Origin — Savage  Customs  Largely  Abandoned — Chilkats 
and  their  Traits — Hootzanoos  and  "  Hoochinoo" — The  Sitkans  and 
Stickines — Among  the  Aleuts 4^8 

CHAPTER  XX. 

NATIVE  RELIGION  AND  TRAITS. 

The  Alaskan  Indians  a  People  of  Curious  Customs  and  Habits — Are 
Intelligent,  Inventive,  and  Imitative — Are  Adepts  in  the  Vices  of 
the  White  Men  Who  Visit  Them — Are  Natural-born  Drunkards  and 
Gamblers — Totem  Poles  Their  Pride  in  the  Olden  Times — The 
Significance  of  these  Barbaric  Symbols  of  the  People — Are  Rich  in 
Oral   Traditions — The  Theological  and  Cosmological  Belief  of  the 


CONTENTS.  xi 

Indians — Odd  Notions  of  the  Aboriginal  Thinkers — Samples  of  the 
Rites  Practiced — Cannibalism  and  Shamanism — Law  and  Home 
Life — Description  of  the  Innuits  of  the  North      491 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

SPREAD  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  FAITH. 

Empress  Catherine  Takes  the  Initiative  in  Bringing  a  Purer  Religion  to 
the  Savages — Work  of  the  Early  Russian  Missionaries  and  the  Pro- 
gress of  Their  Work — Schools  Early  Established — Introduction  of 
the  Luthern  Church  Due  to  the  Efforts  of  Commercial  Bodies  to 
Provide  for  Their  Employes — Sad  Result  of  the  Transfer  of  the 
Territory  to  the  United  States — Deed  Interest  shown  By  the  Natives 
— Some  Striking  Literature  from  the  Wilds — Methodists  Follow  the 
Presbyterians  in  Their  Missions — Great  Hope  for  the  Future.  .    .    .    503 

CHAPTER  XXn. 
BRITISH   COLUMBIA  AND   NORTHWEST  TERRITORY. 

Region  is  One  of  Vast  Extent  and  Diversified  Features — Has  a  Magnifi- 
cent Ocean  Frontage — A  Land  of  Great  Rivers  which  Afford  Internal 
Highways — Greatest  of  All  is  the  Columbia — Has  a  Large  Ocean 
Trade  Even  Now — Experiments  in  Fruit  Growing  Successful— Con- 
struction of  Railwa3-s  Has  Given  an  Impetus  to  Development — Many 
Districts  Famous  for  Their  Grain  and  Others  for  Their  Mineral 
Deposits — Gold  Mines  in  Abundance — Klondike  Within  the  Cana- 
dian Territory — Some  of  the  Mines  Now  Worked — Silver  Not 
Wanting 516 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

ADVENT  OF  WINTER. 

Confirmation  of  Stories  About  the  Wealth  of  Klondike  and  Alaska — 
Perils  of  the  Passes — Dark  and  Bright  Sides  of  the  Picture,  as  Seen 
by  Argonauts — New  Diggings  Opened — Copper  River  and  Cook's 
Inlet — New  Strikes  in  the  Yukon  Basin — Two  Experiences  in  Cross- 
ing Chilkoot  Pass— Over  the  White  Pass— Belated  Gold  Seekers 
Camping  on  the  Trail — Woes  of  the  Horses — New  Routes — Tram- 
way at  Dyea — Via  the  Snow  Train — At  St.  Michael's — In  Dawson 
and  Skagway— Glacier  Slide  and  Flood — Mt.  St.  Elias  Scaled      .     .  o2y 


m 

w 
m 
D 
O 
X 

O 

o 

J 

Q 

< 

H 

w 

H 
73 
W 


(United  States  Survey.) 


c 


OFFICIAL    MAP    OF    THE     KLONDIKE    AND    YUKON     REGION- 


(United  States  Sun-ey.) 


c 


CHAPTER    I. 
Land  of  the  Argonauts. 

A  Country  Frozen  by  the  Lap^e  of  Time — Discovery  of  Gold  Not  New — News 
is  Flashed  Over  the  World  and  Creates  a  Furore — Old  Diggings  are  Soon 
Abandoned — Effect  of  the  Find  on  the  People  of  the  United  States  and 
on  the  Money  Centres  of  the  Work! — Region  which  may  Properly  be 
called  the  Land  of  Gold  once  Thought  so  Worthless  the  Russians  Offered 
to  Give  it  Away  for  Nothing — Testimony  as  to  the  Richness  of  the 
Deposits — The  Popular  Demand  for  Information  as  to  the  Country,  its 
Inhabitants,  Scenery,  Resources  and  the  Like — Camp  Life  and  Experi- 
ences. 

ALASKA  is  the  land  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  Argon:iuts  ; 
and  the  Golden  Fleece  hidden  away  among  its  snow- 
capped and  glacier-clad  mountains  is  not  the  pretty  creation 
of  mythological  fame,  but  yellow  nuggets  which  may  be  trans- 
formed into  the  coin  of  the  realm.  The  vast  territory  into  which 
these  hardy  soldiers  of  fortune  penetrate  is  no  less  replete  with 
wonders  than  the  fabled  land  into  which  Jason  is  said  to  have 
led  his  band  of  adventurers. 

There  is  this  difference,  however,  between  the  frozen  land  of 
of  the  North  and  the  fabled  land  of  niythology.  There  is 
nothing  conjectural  about  Alaska  or  its  golden  treasure.  Jason 
led  his  band  into  an  unknown  country  without  the  certain  knowl- 
edge that  the  treasure  he  was  seeking  was  there.  The  men  and 
women  who  brave  the  perils  of  the  wilderness  to  seek  their 
fortunes  in  Alaska,  go  with  a  certainty  that  the  treasure  is  there. 
It  is  a  mere  matter  of  finding  it  when  once  they  have  readied 
the  fields. 

What  is  more  the  Land  of  Gold,  as  we  may  properly  term 
Alaska,  has   proved   and   will    prove  to  tourist    and  prospector 
as   rich   in    delights   and   marvels  as   the  land  which   l:a3   cov.V2 
2  .  17 


18  LAND    OF   THE  ARGONAUTS. 

down  to  us  in  legend.  It  seems  to  be  a  spot  chosen  by  nature 
as  a  field  of  adventure.  The  person,  therefore,  who  goes  from 
the  South  to  the  Yukon  Valley  will  be  sure  to  find,  even  though 
disappointed  in  the  quest  for  which  primarily  he  went,  enough 
of  the  beautiful  and  martelous  to  pay  him  for  his  trip. 

Frozen  by  Lapse  of  Time. 

And  first  a  word  about  this  land  of  bleakness  and  grandeur. 
Captain  Butler,  an  English  officer  who  crossed  the  great  country 
some  little  time  ago,  writes  in  the  most  enthusiastic  terms  of  its 
scenery,  and  one  cannot  do  better  than  quote  his  picturesque 
words.     Says  he  : 

"  Nature  has  here  graven  her  image  in  such  colossal  charac- 
ters that  man  seems  to  move  slowly  amid  an  ocean  frozen  rigid 
by  the  lapse  of  time — frozen  into  those  things  we  call  mountains, 
rivers  and  forests. 

"Rivers  whose  single  length  roll  twice  2,000  miles  of  shore 
line !  Prairies  over  which  a  traveler  can  steer  for  weeks  without 
resting  his  gaze  on  aught  save  the  dim  verge  of  the  ever-shifting 
horizon  !  Mountains  rent  by  rivers,  ice-topped,  glacier  seared, 
impassable  !  Forests  whose  sombre  pines  darken  a  region  half 
as  large  as  Europe  ! 

"  In  summer  a  land  of  sound  ;  a  land  echoed  with  the  voices 
of  birds  ;  the  ripple  of  running  water ;  the  mournful  music  of 
the  waving  pine  branch  !  In  winter  a  land  of  silence  ;  its  great 
rivers  glimmering  in  the  moonlight,  wrapped  in  their  shrouds  of 
ice  ;  its  still  forests  rising  weird  and  spectral  against  the  auroral 
lighted  horizon  ;  its  nights  s©  still  that  the  moving  streamers 
across  the  northern  skies  seem  to  carry  to  the  ear  a  sense  of 
sound." 

The  land  thus  strikingly  described  has  been  deemed  since 
early  in  1887  the  FJdorado  where  nature  has    apparently  strewn 


LAND    OF   THE  ARGONAUTS.  19 

her  golden  gifts  most  lavish!}'.  It  is  to  this  land  that  thousands 
have  wended  their  way  in  the  hopes  of  wresting  from  their 
hidden  beds  enough  of  these  treasures  to  lift  them  to  opulence. 

Not  a  New  Discovery. 

The  knowledge  of  these  gold  fields  in  the  North  is  not  new. 
From  early  in  the  days  of  the  Russian  occupation  it  has  been 
known  that  there  were  vast  deposits  of  the  precious  metal  in 
Alaska,  practically  under  the  Arctic  Circle. 

Year  by  year  the  gold  fields  have  attracted  adventurous  for- 
tune seekers,  who  have  gone  thither  in  ever-increasing  numbers. 
Following  the  discovery  of  the  rich  deposits  in  the  Klondike 
region,  however,  there  has  been  an  influx  of  people  into  these 
frozen  wilds,  such  as  has  never  been  known  before. 

The  first  chance  discovery  was  for  a  long  time  virtually  held 
in  secret,  not  intentionally,  but  because  the  lack  of  transit  facil- 
ities made  it  difficult  to  get  the  news  to  civilized  communities. 
When  at  length,  however,  the  story  of  the  find  was  brought 
south,  and  with  the  story  was  brought  specimens  of  nuggets  and 
gold  dust  which  had  been  found,  the  news  was  put  upon  the 
wires  and  flashed  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land, 
and  the  excitement  caused  gave  every  promise  of  a  repetition  of 
the  memorable  scenes  which  made  Cariboo  and  Cassiar  famous 
a  generation  ago. 

In  New  York,  in  Chicago,  in  London,  in  Paris,  throughout 
the  world,  the  attention  alike  of  rich  and  poor,  was  directed  to 
the  marvelously  rich,  but  almost  wholly  unknown  wilds  of 
Alaska.  People  talked  of  the  days  of  '49  and  devised  a  new 
slogan,  "The  days  of  '97."  The  rich  immediately  began  to 
organize  new  companies  and  map  out  new  enterprises,  such  as 
made  fortunes  for  thousands  in  days  of  other  gold  excitements  ; 
and  multitudes  of  the  poor,  dissatisfied   with  their   opportunities 


20 


LAND    OF    THE  ARGONAUTS. 


in  districts  longer  settled  and  better  improved,  made  haste  to 
provide  their  outfits  and  take  passage  to  the  Yukon. 

In  former  days  it  was  "  Pike's  Peak  or  Bust."  Now  the 
watch-word  became  "  On  to  the  Klondike." 

In  the  gold  mining  regions  of  Alaska  there  were,  in    1893,  not 


more  than  about  300  miners  all  told.  This  number  was  doubled 
practically  the  following  year.  Owing  to  the  glowing  reports  of 
successful  operators,  the  number  of  miners  attracted  by  1895  was 
3000.  Probably  twice  that  number  of  miners  and  prospectors 
invaded  the  country  in  1 896. 

In  1897  came  this  furor  that  caused  the  Klondike  district  to 
rank  with   the   great  historical   gold    fields   of  the  world.     This 


LAND    OF   THE  ARGONAUTS.  21 

year  witnessed  the  greatest  influx  of  people  into  the  territory  on 
record,  and  there  was  every  prospect  that  the  year  following 
would  see  the  number  quadrupled,  possible  many  times  over. 

Old  Diggings  Abandoned. 

And  in  the  excess  of  enthusiasm  and  the  wild  hurrah  raised 
when  the  new  fields  on  the  Klondike  were  discovered  the  old 
diggings  were  virtually  abandoned.  For  ten  years,  at  least,  men 
worked  placers  in  the  Yukon  district.  Leaving  Juneau  early  in 
the  spring,  they  went  out  over  the  Chilkoot  Pass  and  down  the 
little  chain  of  lakes  on  the  other  side,  making  long  portages,  it 
is  true,  and  enduring  some  hardsliips,  to  the  Yukon  River.  They 
returned  to  Juneau  in  the  fall,  year  after  year,  bringing  with  them 
from  ;$2000  to  $3500  each  in  gold  dust,  the  product  of  the 
summer's  work. 

But  they  were  improvident,  these  men  who  won  gold  from 
the  beds  of  rivers,  and  when  the  spring  came  they  were  stranded 
financially,  many  of  them  without  a  grub-stake,  but  they  "  won 
out"  some  way  and  got  back  again  to  return — unless  they  had 
crossed  the  divide  forever — and  repeated  the  same  old  story  of 
excess  and  extravagance. 

They  never  grew  money  wise,  these  grizzled  veterans  of  the 
rocker,  the  gold  pan,  the  pick  and  the  shovel,  but  after  all  they 
are  of  God's  people. 

Quartz  lodes  were  worked  in  ten  or  more  districts,  some  of 
which  are  large  and  contain  many  district  claims.  The  tun  dis- 
tricts referred  to  are  as  follows  :  Sheep  Creek  region,  which 
yields  ore  containing  silver,  gold  and  other  metals ;  Salmon 
Creek,  near  Juneau,  silver  and  gold  ;  Silver  Bow  Basin,  mainly 
gold  ;  Douglas  Island,  mainly  gold  ;  Fuhter  Bay,  on  Admiralty 
Island,'  mainly  gold  ;  the  Silver  Bay  mining  district,  near  Sitka, 
gold  and  silver ;  Besner's  Bay,  in   Lynn   Canal,   mainly  gold  ; 


22  LAND    OF   THE  ARGONAUTS. 

Fish  River  mining  district,  on  Norton  Sound  ;  Unga  district  and 
Lemon  Creek. 

But  the  furor  over  Klondike  brought  revokition.  A  change 
came  over  the  spirit  of  the  miners'  dreams. 

This  country  has  been  seized  with  the  gold  fever  man)'  times 
in  the  last  half  century,  but  never  since  yellow  deposits  were 
discovered  in  the  Sacramento  Valley  was  there  such  universal 
interest  as  was  displayed  over  the  discovery  of  gold  on  the 
Yukon  and  the  Klondike.  In  many  districts  men  and  women 
talked  of  nothing  else  than  of  the  new  find.  They  were  enthusi- 
astic beyond  bounds. 

Experienced  miners  who  had  spent  years  in  Alaska  came  to 
the  front  with  words  of  caution  and  advice  to  let  these  enthu- 
siasts know  that  the  road  to  wealth  in  the  Alaskan  gold  fields 
was  even  more  beset  with  hardships  in  the  way  of  cold,  hunger 
and  toil  than  the  fields  to  which  they  were  accustomed,  and 
with  which  they  had  become  dissatisfied.  The  friendly  counsel, 
however,  was  disregarded.  The  one  cry  was  "  On  to  the  Klon- 
dike," and  one  and  all  were  apparently  seized  with  the  mad  fever 
to  leave  civilization  and  seek  wealth  in  the  wilds. 

Made  His  Blood  Boil. 

"  What  makes  my  blood  run  faster  in  my  veins  is  to  think 
that  I  have  walked  all  over  that  gold  and  that  now  others  are 
digging  it.      It  prevents  me  from  sleeping  at  night. 

The  speaker  was  Francois  Mercier,  a  resident  of  Montreal, 
who  can  claim  the  honor  of  having  been  one  of  the  first  band 
of  hard}^  pioneers  who  raised  the  American  flag  over  the  now 
celebrated  gold  fields  of  Alaska,  and  who  spent  seventeen  winters 
in  that  desolate  country. 

Thousands  besides  Mercier  found  it  difiicult  to  sleep,  and 
Alaska  suddenly  arose  from  an  obscure  district,  w  hich  had  ofte" 


LAND    OF   THI<:  ARGONAUTS.  23 

been  called  the  "  back  dooryard  of  the  United  States,"  into  the 
most  talked  of  region  of  America.  People  then  began  to  learn 
something  of  the  history,  the  resources,  the  climate  and  the 
future  of  the  country. 

They  were  surprised  to  find  that  this  vast  territory,  which  was 
purchased  in  1867  by  Secretary  Seward  for  half  a  cent  an  acre, 
had  already  paid  $103,000,000.  This  was  the  returns  of  thirty 
years  on  an  investment  of  5/, 200,000.  This  enormous  sum 
they  then  learned  had  been  derived  from  furs,  herring,  salmon, 
cod,  ivory,  whalebone  and  gold.  Gold,  of  course,  was  the  most 
interesting  item. 

They  found  at  the  time  of  the  last  census  the  United  States  had 
taken  out  ;^76,ooo,ooo  in  the  precious  metal.  They  found  that 
since  then  the  mines  of  the  country  had  enriched  the  world's 
gold  supply  by  about  $27,000,000. 

Came     Like    a    Whirlwind. 

It  is  no  wonder,  therefore,  that  the  discovery  of  gold  in  the 
Yukon  region  should  have  come  like  a  whirlwind  among  the 
people  and  that  there  should  have  been  such  an  exodus  from  the 
southern  States  to  the  frozen  regions  of  the  North.  The  figures 
that  came  to  light  then  about  the  Alaskan  territory  were  giant 
figures,  but  they  were  the  exact  truth. 

From  the  "-Jays  when  the  Czar  of  Russia,  in  his  zeal  for  dis- 
covery, sent  hip  'i"':nions  to  find  the  fabled  land  of  Vasco  da 
Gama  to  the  ti^.t^  of  the  discovery,  the  regions  lying  under  the 
Arctic  Circle  had  wooed  but  few,  and  those  few  were  those  who 
had  drifted  thither  from  adjacent  territory.  The  real  settlement 
of  Alaska  may,  in  a  sense,  be  called  the  influx  of  people  that 
resulted  from  the  '^^xcitcment  incident  to  the  discov^erj^  of  gold 
on  the  Klondike. 

It  was   an    ca^^y  matter   to   compute  what  had    come   to   the 


24  LAND    OF   THE  ARGONAUTS. 

United  States  from  Alaska  up  to  that  time,  but  it  was  then  said 
throughout  the  land,  and  in  thousands  of  organs,  that  the  sum 
which  would  be  added  to  the  world's  wealth  within  a  few  years 
by  this  territory  passed  all  surmise.  Thus  hope  fanned  conjec- 
ture and  desire.  The  wealth  to  be  expected  was  thought  to  be 
a  pile  of  money  a?  mountainous  and  as  sublime  as  the  country 
itself. 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  in  this  connection  that  this  territory  of 
Alaska  which  was  not  then  declared  to  be  the  world's  storehouse 
of  gold,  was  once  offered  to  the  United  States  by  the  Emperor 
Nicholas,  of  Russia,  for  nothing,  if  our  government  would 
merely  pay  for  the  transfer  papers  and  agree  by  thus  accepting 
the  gift  from  Russia  to  bar  England  from  coast  territory  on  the 
Pacific.  It  is  also  of  interest  to  note  that  almost  similar  propo- 
sitions were  repeatedly  made,  for  the  simple  reason  that  no  one 
suspected  that  enormous  wealth  lay  hidden  under  the  snows  of 
this  Arctic  region. 

Precaution  of  the  Russians. 

More  properly  speaking,  some  did  suspect  the  existence  of  the 
boundless  treasure.  But  those  who  did,  discretely  kept  it  to 
themselves,  so  that  the  news  did  not  reach  the  people  who  might 
have  profited  by  it. 

It  is  a  singular  fact  that  the  existence  of  gold  in  quantities 
along  the  tributaries  of  the  Yukon  was  known  to  a  few  men  a 
century  and  a  half  ago.  The  truth  has  been  held  back  by  the 
fur  trading  companies.  They  were  not  after  minerals,  and  they 
feared  the  ruin  of  their  industr}^  which  was  in  itself  a  gold  mine. 
Trappers,  explorers,  and  men  who  lived  with  the  Indians  were 
forbidden  to  tell  what  they  knew  on  pain  of  death. 

The  Russia  Fur  Company  did  summarily  shoot  one  man  who 
<'-rew  excited  with  drink  and  blabbed.     That  death  is  still  remem- 


LAND   OF   THE   ARGONAUTS.  25 

bered  in  Alaska,  having  been  passed  from  mouth  to  mouth,  as 
is  the  manner  of  unlettered  peoples.     Other  fur  companies  have 
done  nothing  to  develop  the  country  and  have   kept  their  lips 
sealed.     They   foresaw  the  effect  of  a  torrent   of  immigration 
Such  things  cannot  be  hidden,  however.     The  secret  is  out  at  last. 

No,  such  things  cannot  be  kept  hidden.  They  came  out,  and 
the  world  had  the  secret  as  soon  as  the  first  ship  from  the  North 
reached  Seattle  with  the  men  who  had  "struck  it  rich,"  and 
brought  back  with  them  evidence  of  their  good  luck  in  the  shape 
of  gold  dust  and  nuggets. 

Then  a  state  of  affairs  resulted  comparable  with  the  days  of 
'49.  It  was  said  that  the  world's  richest  deposit  of  gold  had 
been  discovered.  To  the  average  man  in  the  coast  States,  who 
had  been  nurtured  virtually  on  stories  of  vast  fortunes  easily 
made  in  California,  this  news  was  not  more  acceptable  than 
exciting. 

It  was  true  that  the  Yukon  region  was  2000  miles  away,  across 
a  trackless  desert,  over  snow-bound  mountains,  and  through 
passes  beset  with  dangers.  But  the  fabulous  tales  of  wealth  that 
were  brought  south  made  the  distance  and  the  danger  practically 
sink  into  insignificance  and  stimulated  all  with  a  desire  to  brave 
the  unknown  and  investigate  for  themselves  the  great  mineral 
belt  in  the  Klondike  region. 

Evidence  of  Authorities. 

This  popular  excitement  was  backed  up  by  the  testimony  of 
men  competent  to  speak  of  the  country  and  its  resources.  They 
declared  unqualifiedly  that  the  gold  districts  on  the  Yukon  and 
Klondike  were  but  a  speck  in  the  gold  territory  of  Alaska. 
They  said  that  the  placer  mining  which  had  resulted  in  such 
wealth  thus  far,  was  but  an  indication  of  the  larger  wealth  to  be 
acquired  by  a  different  process  of  mining. 


26  LAND    OF    THE  ARGONAUTS. 

When  the  miners  find  it  no  longer  profitable  to  wash  out  the 
gravel  they  can  attack  the  conglomerate,  where  they  will  be 
able  to  accomplish  something  by  hand  labor.  Finally,  there  is 
the  original  source  of  gold,  the  veins  in  the  hills.  These  must 
be  of  enormous  value.  They  must  lie  untouched  until  the 
proper  machinery  for  obtaining  the  gold  is  erected.  A  clear, 
scientific,  and  authoritative  explanation  of  the  geological  condi- 
tions of  the  Klondike  and  neighboring  gold-bearing  rocks  is 
furnished  by  Professor  S.  F.  Emmons,  of  the  United  States 
Geolological  Survey.      Professor  Emmons  said  : 

"  The  real  mass  of  golden  wealth  in  Alaska  remains  as  yet 
untouched.  It  lies  in  the  virgin  rocks,  from  which  the  particles 
found  in  the  river  gravels,  now  being  washed  by  the  Klondike 
miners  have  been  torn  by  the  erosion  of  streams.  These  parti- 
cles, being  heavy,  have  been  deposited  by  the  streams,  which 
carried  the  lighter  matter  onward  to  the  ocean,  thus  forming,  b}- 
gradual  accumulation,  a  sort  of  auriferous  concentrate. 

Richness  of  the    Soil. 

"  Many  of  the  bits,  especially  in  certain  localities,  are  big 
enough  to  be  called  nuggets.  In  spots  the  gravels  are  so  rich 
that,  as  we  have  all  heard,  many  ounces  of  the  yellow  metal  are 
obtained  from  the  washing  of  a  single  panful.  That  is  what  is 
making  the  people  so  wild — the  prospect  of  picking  money  out 
of  the  dirt  by  the  handful  literally." 

Hardly  had  the  news  of  the  great  find  been  flashed  over  the 
world  when  Director  of  the  Mint  Preston  was  asked  for  his  views 
as  to  the  Alaskan  gold  fields  and  their  influence.  His  words 
but  added  fuel  to  the  flames  that  were  then  consuming  the 
masses.     Said  he  : 

"  That  gold  exists  in  large  quantities  in  the  newly  discovered 
Klondike   district   is   sufficient!}'   proven    by   the    large    amount 


LAND    OF   THE  ARGONAUTS.  27 

recently  brouglit  out  by  the  steamship  companies  and  miners 
returning  to  the  States  who  went  up  into  the  district  within  the 
last  eight  months. 

"So  far  ^1,500,000  in  gold  from  the  Klondike  district  has 
been  deposited  at  the  mints  and  assay  offices  of  the  United 
States,  and  from  information  now  at  hand  there  are  substantial 
reasons  for  believing  from  ^3,000,000  to  $4,000,000  additional 
will  be  brought  out  by  the  steamers  and  returning  miners  sailing 
from  St.  Michael's  the  last  of  September  or  early  October  next. 

"  One  of  the  steamship  companies  states  that  it  expects  to 
bring  out  about  $2,000,000  on  its  steamer  sailing  from  St.  Mich- 
ael's on  September  30th,  and  has  asked  the  government  to  have 
a  revenue  cutter  to  act  as  a  convoy  through  the  Rehring  Sea.  In 
view  of  the  facts  above  stated  I  am  justified  in  estimating  that 
the  Klondike  district  will  augment  the  world's  gold  supply  in 
1897  nearly  $6,000,000." 

Demand  for  Information. 

As  might  be  expected,  the  prominence  given  to  Alaska  by  the 
discovery  of  the  gold  fields,  resulted  in  a  demand  for  a  detailed 
statement  of  information  as  to  the  country  in  all  its  relations. 
So  little  was  the  country  known,  however,  and  so  meager  were 
the  reports 'that  had  been  brought  to  civilized  communities  con- 
cerning it,  that  the  multitude  found  it  difficult  to  obtain  the 
information  desired. 

How  were  they  to  get  there  ?  What  was  there  of  interest  or 
of  importance  connected  with  the  history  and  purchase  of  the 
countr}'  ?  What  could  be  learned  of  the  various  industries  of 
the  territory?  What  of  the  fauna  and  flora?  What  of  the 
mineral  wealth.  Under  what  conditions  and  amenable  to  what 
laws  would  the  prospectors  have  to  work  ?  What  outfits  were 
required  for  safety,  comfort  and  convenience  ?     What  conditions 


28  LAND    OF   THE  ARGONAUTS. 

of  domestic  life  would  those  who  left  their  homes  in  the  south 
have  to  face  in  the  unknown  regions  to  which  they  contemplated 
going  ?  What  of  the  topography  of  the  country  they  would 
have  to  traverse  ? 

These  and  a  thousand  of  other  things  became  matters  of 
prime  importance,  and  it  is  to  place  such  information  in  the 
hands  of  the  public  that  this  volume  is  issued. 

A  Land  of  ^A^onde^s. 

Literally  the  land  of  Alaska  is  a  Land  of  Wonders,  a  land  dif- 
fering markedly  in  its  natural  features  from  the  districts  of  the 
south  and  bound  to  excite  the  admiration  and  awe  of  visitors  by 
its  natural  features.  These  are  so  unlike  the  natural  phenomena 
to  be  beheld  in  other  parts  of  United  States  territory  that  the 
person  who  ventures  into  the  region  of  the  gold  fields  will  find 
himself  practically  in  a  new  world. 

As  will  be  seen  in  the  following  chapters,  it  is  a  country  ot 
almost  boundless  extent  where  the  rivers,  the  mountains,  the 
plains,  the  glaciers,  everything,  is  in  keeping  with  the  distances 
that  have  to  be  traversed  by  the  tourist  or  the  prospector.  It  is 
a  land  of  strange  sights  and  stranger  experiences,  where  much 
that  is  never  dreamed  of  in  the  south  will  be  found  to  be  the 
commonplaces  of  an  unknown  people.  As  will  be  seen  in  the 
following  pages,  it  is  the  land  of  sunless  days  and  moonless 
nights ;  where  Nature  apparently  has  transposed  the  natural 
order  of  things,  as  is  observed  in  southern  latitudes,  and  inaugu- 
rated a  new  regime  for  visitors  to  wonder  and  marvel  at. 

Everything  is  mapped  out  on  a  gigantic  scale  and  is  clothed 
in  such  a  way  with  its  covering  of  ice  and  snow,  and  its  strange 
forestation,  and  is  overarched  with  such  peculiar  skies,  that  the 
voyager  will  not  marvel  less  at  what  he  sees  than,  to  revert 
again  to  the  opening  passage  from  mythology,  Jason  and  his 


LAND    OF   THE  ARGONAUTS.  29 

band  of  adventurers  marveled  at  what  they  are  supposed  to  have 
seen  in  the  fabled  land  of  the  Golden  Fleece. 

The  Lesson  of  History. 

The  story  of  the  history  and  purchase  is  not  without  its  touch 
of  romance  and  its  lesson  of  wisdom.  There  is  certainly  food 
for  thought  in  the  narrative  of  a  region  so  boundless  in  extent 
that  Vas  once  thought  so  valueless  as  to  be  offered  as  a  gift, 
owing  to  the  ignorance  of  the  people  owning  it  as  to  its  actual 
wealth.  Secretary  Seward  always  maintained  that  it  was  his 
crowning  glory  to  have  purchased  the  Alaskan  territory.  He 
and  his  staunch  supporter,  Senator  Charles  Sumner,  always 
declared  that  the  country  had  a  future  which  would  make  it  a 
profitable  investment  for  the  United  States  to  purchase  it  at  a  far 
higher  figure  than  had  to  be  given. 

The  wisdom  of  their  decision  in  the  matter  was  shown  within 
a  few  years  after  the  transfer  was  made  from  Russia  to  the 
United  States,  and,  as  will  be  set  forth  in  a  chapter  to  follow, 
long  before  ever  gold  was  discovered  in  the  Klondike  region  the 
purchase  money  of  the  United  States  was  returned  over  and  over 
again,  and  the  wisdom  of  Seward  and  his  friends  was  established 
beyond  a  doubt. 

Incident  to  the  purchase  and  transfer  of  the  territory,  grave 
international  questions  arose  which  are  well  worthy  of  the  atten- 
tion of  any  one  interested  in  the  history  of  the  country  and  the 
development  of  its  latest  possession.  These  are  all  carefully  set 
forth  in  the  following  pages  and  will  be  deemed  an  acceptable 
contribution  of  information  by  those  who,  influenced  by  the  ex- 
citement incident  to  the  recent  discovery  of  gold,  may  wish  to 
invade  the  northern  regions. 

The  fauna  and  flora  of  the  territory,  too,  are  of  deep  interest, 
especially  from   the  fact  that  for  many  years  one  of  the  chief 


30  LAND    OF   THE  ARGONAUTS. 

sources  of  wealth  in  the  country  was  the  furs.  The  Russians, 
who  first  owned  the  country,  were  not  slow  to  recognize  the 
value  of  the  fur-bearing  animals  and  to  develop  the  industr}'-  of 
hunting  them  for  their  pelts.  Following  the  initial  steps  taken 
by  the  Russians.  John  Jacob  Astor  sent  his  army  of  hunters  and 
trapper?  into  the  northwest  and  carried  the  business  far  beyond 
the  limits  ever  dreamed  of  by  the  Russians  who  began  it. 

Of  late  years,  however,  trapping  in  Alaska  has,  in  a  measure, 
fallen  into  abeyance,  and  in  those  regions  where  the  miners  have 
begun  their  work  the  difficulty  of  securing  fresh^meat  has  caused 
them  to  drive  away  all  game  from  the  districts  invaded.  Still  it 
is  of  importance  to  those  likely  to  go  to  the  gold  fields  to  know 
that  there  is  still  ample  field  for  the  hunter,  and  that  fortunes  are 
even  yet  to  be  made  in  trapping  the  animals  for  their  furs. 

Touching  on  furs  Mr.  Olgivie  writes  : 

"  The  principal  furs  procured  in  the  district  are  the  silver-gray 
and  black  fox,  the  number  of  which  bears  a  greater  ratio  to  the 
number  of  red  foxes  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  country.  The 
red  fox  is  very  common,  and  a  species  called  the  blue  is  very 
abundant  near  the  coast.  Marten,  or  sabie,  are  also  numerous, 
as  are  lynx  ;  but  otter  are  scarce,  and  beaver  almost  unknown. 

Value  of  the  Fox  Skins. 

"  It  is  probable  that  the  value  of  gray  and  black  fox  skins 
taken  out  of  the  country  more  than  equals  in  value  all  the  other 
furs.  I  could  get  no  statistics  concerning  this  trade  for  obvious 
reasons. 

"  Game  is  not  now  as  abundant  as  before  mining  began,  and 
it  is  difficult,  in  fact  impossible,  to  get  any  close  to  the  river. 

"A  boom  in  mining  would  soon  exterminate  the  game  in  the 
district  along  the  river." 

Directly  connected   with   the   discover}^  of  gold   and  of  vast 


LAND    OF   THE  ARGONAUTS.  31 

importance  to  prospective  mineri-,  there  is  miuch  to  be  learned 
relative  to  the  necessities  of  those  visiting  the  territory.  Prime 
among  these  items  of  interest  is  the  matter  of  getting  to  the 
diggings.  Many  have  been  deterred  from  making  the  trip  by 
the  reported  inaccessibility  of  the  gold-bearing  region,  and  the 
interminable  stretches  of  the  country  that  have  to  be  traversed 
by  all  who  seek  fortunes  in  the  wilds. 

Route  after  route  has  been  mapped  out  until  there  is  scarcely 
a  way  by  which  it  would  be  possible  to  go  from  Sitka  to  the 
Yukon,  that  has  not  been  laid  down  as  more  or  less  practicable. 
It  is  safe  to  say  that  many  of  the  routes  outlined  for  the  benefit 
of  the  public  are  thoroughly  impracticable.  The  mere  enumera- 
tion and  explanation  of  the  many  courses  prospective  miners 
may  follow,  is  not  less  an  item  of  interest  than  of  importance. 

Features  of  the  Journey. 

To  reach  the  distant  fields,  it  will  be  neccssar}^  for  any  one  to 
take  an  ocean  voyage  on  landlocked  arms  of  the  sea,  traverse 
trackless  prairies,  skirt  mountain  ranges,  thread  rivers  lined  with 
falls  and  rapids,  that  are  a  constant  menace  to  life,  andeven,in  a 
region  for  a  large  share  of  the  year  covered  with  an  unbroken 
blanket  of  ice  and  snow,  go  in  sledges  or  on  snow-shoes  in  a 
way  that  adds  to  the  fatigues  and  dangers  of  the  journey. 

Many  are  the  wild  schemes  that  have  been  devised  by  so-called 
"  tenderfeet,"  of  getting  from  civilization  to  the  camps,  and  those 
who  have  had  their  interest  awakened  to  the  extent  of  wishing 
to  undertake  the  journey  to  Alaska,  will  welcome  a  careful  state- 
ment of  the  most  desirable  ways  of  getting  there,  and  an  outline 
of  the  principal  courses  which  may  be  followed  in  the  under- 
taking. 

Another  matter  of  importance,  and  one  that  is  replete  with 
interest  and  romance,  is  the  domestic  life  of  the  mining  region. 


32  LAND    OF   THE  ARGONAUTS 

The  camps  of  the  North,  thus  far  at  least,  have  been  unique  in 
the  great  mining  enterprises  of  the  world.  It  is  probable  that 
the  days  of  '97  will  be  attended  by  no  such  forms  of  life  and 
forms  of  depravity  as  marred  the  days  of  '49.  Many  women, 
and  these  in  a  large  measure  women  of  culture  and  education, 
have  gone  to  the  north  to  grace  the  camp  life  with  their  pres- 
ence. They  have  gone,  however,  with  a  legitimate  and  honor- 
able purpose  in  view,  and  the  inaccessibility  of  the  region,  and 
the  dangers  and  hardships  that  are  reported  to  attend  the  jour- 
ney to  the  diggings  have  had  the  result  of  keeping  away  the  lawless 
classes. 

Camp  Life  Comparatively  Pure. 

As  a  consequence,  camp  life  is  pure  and  better  in  every  way 
than  it  was  in  the  days  of  the  gold  excitement  in  California,  and 
those  who  read  the  following  pages  will  be  pleased  with  the 
remarkable  contrast  that  is  pointed  out. 

Immediately  on  the  discovery  of  gold  and  its  announcement 
to  the  world,  grave  questions  arose  as  to  the  international 
boundaiy  between  the  United  States  and  the  British  territory,  and 
it  became  a  matter  of  importance  to  miners  and  prospectors  to 
study  the  mining  laws  of  two  countries,  partly  to  provide  against 
personal  annoyance  and  partly  to  protect  their  individual  inter- 
ests. On  the  opposite  sides  of  the  boundary  line  different  sets  of 
laws  and  regulations  were  in  force,  and  miners  were  expected  to 
observe  the  laws  obtaining  in  the  respective  districts.  That  these 
laws  were  often  disregarded,  goes  without  saying. 

Canada,  in  a  grasping  spirit  of  gain,  proceeded  without  delay 
to  modify  her  mining  laws  for  her  own  benefit  and  to  the  detri- 
ment of  Americans  who  went  to  the  Klondike  district.  The 
old  dispute  as  to  boundary  and  territorial  jurisdiction  arose,  and 
for  a  time  there  was  the  prospect  of  a  grave  international  dis- 
pute.    Not  content  to  live  and   let   live,  Canada   undertook  to 


33 


34  LAND    OF   THE  ARGONAUTS. 

impose  a  tax  on  all  Americans  crossmg  the  real  or  alleged  boun- 
dary line,  and  this  measure  was  bitterly  opposed  by  the  mmers. 

Would  Keep  the  Gold. 

Further  than  this,  the  Dominion  Cabinet  devised  a  scheme  to 
limit  the  flow  of  gold  to  the  United  States  from  the  diggings, 
and  this  too  caused  a  protest  in  the  entire  region,  from  the  fact 
that  a  large  percentage  of  the  miners  were  Americans  who  had 
gone  thither  on  the  mere  chance  of  winning  fortunes,  and  who 
naturally  objected  to  being  taxed  for  their  enterprise  and  to 
being  placed  in  leading  strings  as  to  the  disposition  of  whatever 
they  might  acquire  In  the  following  pages  a  digest  of  the  min- 
ing laws  of  both  countries,  together  with  the  history  of  the  con- 
tention that  arose  and  its  development  to  the  time  of  publication, 
is  given : 

In  the  wild  rush  for  the  diggings  incident  upon  the  news 
coming  to  the  more  settled  States,  thousands  of  people  with  no 
experience  whatever  in  mining  life  set  out  immediately  to  tempt 
fortune  in  the  territory  Many  of  the  outfits  they  provided  for 
themselves  were  very  curious,  and  it  became  necessary  for  those 
furthering  the  enterprise  of  the  fortune  seekers  in  a  commercial 
way,  to  make  a  schedule  of  the  necessary  outfits  they  should 
provide  for  themselves. 

For  the  most  part  these  specially  devised  outfits  received  pub- 
lication in  the  daily  press,  and  then  from  lack  of  novelty  were 
allowed  to  fall  into  abeyance  and  practically  be  forgotten.  As  a 
result,  many  of  those  who  took  their  traps  and  started  for  the 
overland  journey  from  Juneau  and  St.  Michael's,  found  themselves, 
when  on  the  way,  practically  destitute  of  the  things  which  expe- 
rience showed  to  be  necessary  for  effective  work. 

The  fortune  seekers  were  likewise  equally  without  knowledge 
of  the   methods   of  working  claims,  should  they   secure   them 


L\ND   OF   THE  ARGONAUTS.  34 

Very  few  of  the  thousands  who  took  their  way  to  the  Klondike 
region,  knew  the  first  thing  of  how  to  mine  gold.  They  were 
obliged  to  trust  to  fortune  and  pick  up  from  those  already  in  the 
field  the  rudiments  of  the  new  calling  to  which  they  proposed 
to  devote  themselves.  Many,  to  their  sorrow,  deplored  the  fact 
that  ignorance  or  oversight  had  led  them  to  overlook  this  im- 
portant preparation  for  their  work. 

"  If  I  had  had  but  a  manual  telling  me  what  to  provide  and 
how  to  do  the  work  on  arriving  at  the  diggings,  I  should  have 
deemed  myself  a  fortunate  person."  This  was  a  saying  of 
almost  daily  occurence  wherever  the  work  of  mining  was  under- 
taken by  "tenderfeet"  from  the  south.  Naturally  they  worked 
at  a  disadvantage  as  compared  with  the  men  of  experience, 
who  flocked  to  the  new  fields  from  W^eare,  Circle  City  and 
other  camps  where  mining  had  been  followed  for  a  length  of 
time.  In  the  following  pages  all  this  information,  which  those 
who  early  flocked  to  the  diggings  lacked,  has  been  gathered 
together  for  the  instruction  and  convenience  of  those  who  may 
propose  to  make  the  journey  in  the  future. 

Food  Question  Paramount. 

Food  is  the  great  problem  of  life  in  this  district.  Cold  does 
not  cause  much  worry,  for  men  can  wrap  themselves  warmly 
enough  to  guard  against  loss  of  life  from  exposure,  but  few 
things  grow  in  that  northern  clime  and  there  is  a  lack  of  animal 
food  which  can  be  sacrificed  to  support  the  life  of  man.  Hence 
enormous  prices  are  charged  for  provisions. 

Reports  sent  back  by  the  miners  in  the  Klondike  region  show 
that  potatoes  are  twenty-five  cents   a  pound  and  bacon   forty 
cents.     These  are  the  cheapest  articles  of  diet,  and  others  sell 
at.  proportionate  prices  based  upon  the  cost  of  their  transporta- 
tion to  the  gold  fields  as  well  as  upon  their  power  to  sustain  life. 


36  LAND    OF   THE  ARGONAUTS. 

Starvation  is  the  real  danger  that  confronts  the  miner  who 
goes  there  in  search  of  gold.  Although  ten  dollars  a  day  is 
paid  for  labor,  no  man  is  given  work  unless  he  brings  some 
provisions  with  him,  this  being  due  to  the  fact  that  the  claim  owner 
cannot  afford  to  supply  his  workman  with  food  nor  even  sell 
him  any  from  his  own  scanty  store. 

The  rapid  growth  in  the  population  of  Alaska  has  made  this 
problem  seem  of  sufficient  importance  to  Congress  to  appropri- 
ate ;$50oo  to  pay  for  an  investigation  of  the  food  resources,  and 
in  addition,  under  the  present  law,  the  experiment  stations  which 
will  be  established  will  be  entitled  to  $15,000  per  annum  for 
their  support. 

Field  for  Enterprises. 

Apart  from  all  consideration  of  the  discovery  of  gold  and  the 
excitement  incident  to  it,  the  Territory  of  Alaska  has  a  deep 
interest  for  Americans  in  many  lines  of  commercial  enterprise. 
The  remoteness  of  the  countr}^  and  its  inaccessibility,  owing  to 
poor  methods  of  transit,  has  thus  far  had  the  effect  of  shrouding 
the  region  in  a  certain  myster}^,  which  lack  of  interest,  appar- 
ently, has  not  cleared  away.  The  rise  of  the  Klondike  fever 
has  opened  up  to  the  public  the  fact  that  the  gold  fields  are  only 
one  of  a  number  of  interests  that  claim  attention.  This  is 
shown  by  such  reports  as  the  following,  which  was  made  by  one 
who  spent  many  years  in  the  interior  of  the  countr}-. 

"It  is  a  prevalent  idea  that  the  Alaskan  Territor)-  produces 
only  gold  and  things  of  the  sea,  but  this  is  wrong.  Even  in 
Klondike,  which  is  far  removed  from  the  mollifying  influences  of 
the  Japanese  current,  hardy  vegetables  grow  in  profusion, 
although  cauliflower  and  asparagus  will  not  ripen.  Hay  is  as 
high  as  a  man's  head.  When  the  country  comes  to  be  better 
known  it  will  be  found  capable  of  making  many  things  for 
humanit}'  now  unthought  of 


^v^, 


CHILKOOT  PAS?   SHOWING  SNOW-CAPPED  MOUNTAINS 


LAND   OF   THE   ARGONAUTS.  37 

"  Although  for  some  undiscovcrable  reason,  reports  have  gone 
abroad  that  there  is  no  game,  the  fact  remains  that  there  is 
plenty  of  it.  Moose,  elk  and  cariboo,  or  the  American  reindeer, 
abound.  '  Every  river  is  stocked  with  fish.  No  man  should 
starve  who  has  a  hook  and  a  flint-lock  musket.  When  we  were 
school  children  we  used  to  read  of  the  musk-oxen  of  Alaska, 
but  none  are  there.  The  musk-ox  is  not  found  in  America  any- 
where west  of  the  great  continental  divide,  or  Rocky  Mountains." 

Another  Fine    Possibility. 

Professor  Allen  thinks  Alaska  has  before  it  a  great  future  as  a 
stock-raising  country,  and  declares  that  stock  can  be  raised  there 
as  successfully  as  in  Montana  or  Wyoming.  At  present,  how- 
ever, there  are  practically  no  domestic  animals  in  the  country, 
the  chief  being  reindeer.  Explorers  will  experiment  and  learn 
what  domestic  animals  are  best  adapted  to  the  climate. 

Sheep,  pigs  and  goats  can  live  there  with  proper  treatment, 
and  it  is  thought  that,  in  the  islands  of  the  coast,  they  will 
flourish  all  winter  on  the  wild  grasses,  even  if  left  to  their 
own  devices.  Farther  north  and  in  the  interior  it  is  probable 
they  would  have  to  be  sheltered  dliring  the  two  or  three  months  of 
the  severest  weather.  Poultry  can  probably  be  raised  to  advantage. 

It  has  been  the  aim  in  the  following  pages  to  gather  together, 
from  every  possible  source,  such  information  relative  to  the  min- 
eral wealth,  the  fisheries,  the  agricultural  development,  the 
ethnology  of  the  country  and  all  similar  lines  of  interest  such  as 
would  naturally  be  sought  by  a  public  whose  interest  had  been 
aroused  by  the  recent  developments  in  the  Territory,  and  to  give 
as  fully  as  possible  the  stor}'  of  the  rise  of  the  Klondike  fever, 
with  all  the  wealth  of  romantic  experiences  and  fortunate  dis- 
coveries that  has  been  made  public  since  Alaska  stepped  so 
prominently  into  notice, 


38  LAND    OF   THE  ARGONAUTS. 

The  narrative,  in  a  sense,  will  of  necessity  read  like  a  chapter 
of  fiction,  for  the  camp  life  of  the  Klondike,  like  the  camp  life 
of  similar  regions,  has  its  light  and  shade,  its  amenities  and 
hardships,  its  pecuKaritics  and  its  streaks  of  fortune, 'that  will 
ever  be  of  interest  to  those  who  have  a  love  of  the  unusual  and 
the  unexpected.  Miners'  experiences,  in  a  district  so  remote, 
must  ever  have  the  element  of  oddit}^,  and  this,  coupled  with 
the  peculiar  characteristics  of  life  in  a  region  which  is  little  less 
than  a  new  world,  makes  the  story  of  the  Yukon,  as  the  follow- 
ing pages  will  show,  one  virtually  of  romance. 

What  Gold  Seekers  Will  Find. 

The  Argonauts  of  1898  will  see  that  their  contemplated 
journey  is  as  likely  to  be  one  of  good  luck  as  of  disappointment ; 
that  the  journey  is  as  likely  to  be  one  of  delight  as  of  hardship; 
and  that,  while  they  are  leaving  home  with  all  its  comforts  and 
conveniences,  and  society  with  its  pleasures,  for  a  country  devoid 
for  the  most  part  of  the  experiences  of  ordinary  life,  they  are 
going  to  a  wilderness,  nevertheless,  in  which  they  will  find,  dis- 
guised it  may  be,  cut  short  it  may  be,  a  fair  quota  of  what  they 
have  been  used  to. 

Further,  the  Argonauts  of  1898  will  not  be  content  with  the 
answers  to  their  questions  that  literature  will  give  them.  They 
will  want  and  long  to  read  the  great  unwritten  book  of  Alaska  on 
the  plains  and  glaciers,  along  the  rivers  and  passes  of  the  vast 
territory.  Their  desire  will  simply  be  whetted  by  printed  stories 
and  their  longing  will  be  that  of  Joaquin  Miller.  Says  the  Poet 
of  the  Sierras  : 

"  You  want  to  ask  questions.  You  wonder  why  the  other 
islands  of  black-white  mountains,  a  thousand  of  them  on  either 
hand,  so  stupendous,  so  steep,  so  sublimely  majestic,  mysterious, 
solemn  and  silent,  are  so  voiceless,  so  utterly  empty  and  still. 


LAND   OF   THP:  ARGONAUTS.  39 

"  You  want  to  ask  questions  of  Alaska,  but  Akiska  is  the 
sphinx  with  a  forehead  of  gold.  We  have  now  steamed  up  the 
straits  and  out  and  away  from  under  the  mantle  of  fire  and  gold 
that  hung  above  Juneau  and  Douglas  City — a  mantle  woven  in 
some  sort  from  the  smoke  and  chemicals  of  the  great  gold  mine 
— and  the  morning  is  crisp,  blue,  white,  clear  as  a  bell. 

"  If  one  cared  to  look  on  the  gray  side  of  the  situation,  he 
might  easily  write  of  the  location  and  all  the  land  about  "  the 
abomination  of  desolation."  But,  on  the  contrary,  the  scene  is 
grand,  grand,  sublimely  grand,  and  the  air  is  sweet,  healthful 
and  invigorating  as  wine.  The  heavens'  breath  smells  wooingly 
here.     You  never  saw  snow  so  white  anywhere  as  here. 

"  White  as  snow ;  whiter  than  any  miller  can  whiten.  This 
is  because  this  is  a  land  of  granite  ;  no  dust  in  the  air  as  in  Cali- 
fornia or  Colorado  ;  no  tall  trees  to  scatter  bits  of  bark  and 
leaves  and  litter  through  the  air  and  over  the  snow.  One  con- 
stantly thinks  of  the  transfiguration  all  along  this  land  of  white- 
ness and  blue  ;  white  clouds,  white  snow,  blue  seas  and  blue 
skies.  Heavens !  Had  I  but  years  to  live  here  and  lay  my 
hand  upon  this  color,  this  fearful  and  wonderful  garment  of  the 
most  high  God !  " 


CHAPTER  II. 
Spread  of  the  Klondike  Fever. 

Arrival  of  the  Portland  with  More  than  a  Ton  of  Gold  on  Board — Miners 
Tell  of  their  Marvelous  Strikes — Gold  and  the  Aborigines — First  Great 
Gold  Craze — Prospecting  in  Early  Days — Rich  Gold  Discovery  on 
Bonanza  Creek — Argonauts  Flock  to  the  Steamers — Scenes  at  the 
Wharves — Companies  Formed  in  Response  to  the  Rush — Millions  of 
Money  and  Thousands  of  Men — Craze  in  Wall  Street — Royalty  Affected 
— Money  in  Grub-stakes — ^Joaquin  Miller  Under  Way — "Lucky" 
Baldwf**  After  Mother  Lode — Bright  and  Dark  Sides  of  Story. 

WHEN  the  steamer  Portland  reached  Seattle  from  St. 
Michael's,  Alaska,  on  July  17,  1897,  bringing  not 
only  the  verified  news  of  the  great  gold  discoveries  in 
the  upper  Yukon  region,  but  nearly  a  million  and  three  quarters 
in  gold  "  dust"  as  freight,  beside  a  cabin  full  of  bronzed  miners 
to  bear  witness  to  the  Golconda-Hke  find,  not  only  the  Pacific 
coast,  but  the  whole  northern  country  as  well,  whether  British 
or  American,  began  to  go  stark,  staring  mad  over  the  well-nigh 
incredible  reports  from  the  new  diggings.  Some  of  the  miners 
had  with  them  $75,000  and  even  twice  that  sum,  and  not  a  man 
had  less  than  $3000,  every  ounce  taken  from  the  placers  of  the 
Klondike  within  the  year. 

Over  a  Ton  of  Gold. 

More  than  a  ton  of  gold  was  on  board  the  steamer  as  It 
came  up  the  sound.  In  the  captain's  cabin  were  three  big 
chests  full  of  the  yellow  "  dust,"  and  the  large  safe  had  no 
room  for  more  of  the  precious  nuggets  which  had  been  taken 
out   of  the   orround   in   less  than    three  months  of  last  winter. 

o 

In  size    the    nuggets    ranged    from  that   of  a  pea  to  a  guinea 
hen's  egg. 
40 


SPREAD   OF   THE   KLONDIKE   FEVER.  41 

Surely,  it  was  enough  to  set  the  land  wild  with  excitement. 

And  yet,  it  was  no  news  there  was  gold  in  and  near  Alaska,  and 

in  fabulously  paying  quantities.      The  marvelous  tales    of  wealth 

sent  out  by  the  California  pioneers  were  no  less  wonderful  than 

those  brought  back  by  men  who  had  braved  the  last  cold  season 

in  the  frigid  mineral  belt.     The  great  Klondike  strike  was  made 

in  the  early  winter  of  1896-97,  but   nothing  was  known  of  it  in 

the    United   States    until  June    15,    1897,    when  the    Excelsior 

arrived  in  San    Francisco  laden  with  Klondike  miners  who  were 

in   turn   laden   with   gold.     Then  came  the  Portland   and    the 

*'  craze." 

"  Chechockoes  "   Make  Their  Piles. 

In  speaking  of  the  miners  who  came  out  on  the  Portland, 
Captain  Kidston  was  enthusiastic. 

"These  men,"  said  Captain  Kidston,  "are  every  one  what  the 
Yukoners  call  '  Chechockoes  '  or  newcomers,  and  up  to  last 
winter  they  had  nothing.  To-day  you  see  them  wealthy  and 
happy.  Why,  on  the  fifteen  days'  trip  from  St.  Michael's  1 
never  spent  a  pleasantcr  time  in  my  life.  These  fortunate  people 
felt  so  happy  that  anything  would  suffice  for  them,  and  I  could 
not  help  contrasting  them  with  the  crowd  of  gold  hunters  I 
took  with  me  on  the  last  trip  up.  They  were  grumblers,  with- 
out a  cent  in  the  world,  and  nothing  on  the  boat  was  good 
enough  for  them.  Some  of  these  successful  miners  do  not  even 
own  claims.  They  have  been  working  for  other  men  for  $15  a 
day,  and  thus  have  accumulated  small  fortunes.  Their  average 
on  this  boat  is  not  less  than  510,000  tc  the  man,  and  the  very 
smallest  sack  is  ;^3000.  It  is  heir'  '  /  C.  A.  Branan,  of  Seattle, 
a  happy  young  fellow  just  eighteen  years  old.  There  is  no 
country  on  earth  like  the  Yukon." 

Gold  has  been  a  familiar  metal  to  the  Alaskan  aborigines  for 
a  time  that  is  old  even  in  their  legends,  but,  lacking  civilization, 


42       SPREAD  OF  THE  KLONDIKE  FEVER. 

they  lacked  also  the  knowledge  of  the  highest  use  of  the  pre- 
cious metal,  and  the  yellow  nuggets  which  they  gathered  from 
the  beds  of  their  Arctic  streams  played  no  other  part  than  that 

of  savage  ornaments  until  the  land  passed  under  the  dominion 
of  the  white  man. 

The  earliest  white  voyagers  to  the  Aleutian  coasts  had  their 
cupidit}-  kindled,  like  the  soldiers  of  Cortez  and  Pizarro,  by  the 
bits  of  gold  shining  here  and  there  among  the  barbarous  trap- 
pings of  the  natives  who  came,  half  menacing,  to  the  iron-girt 
coasts  to  barter  with  them  for  the  rare  treasures  of  sharp  knives 
and  gaudy  fabrics,  but,  be)'ond  the  trivial  ounces  secured  in 
shorewise  trade,  it  was  years  after  white  sails  had  become  familiar 
sights,  winging  their  intricate  way  among  the  devious  channels 
of  the  island-dotted  coast,  th.t  civilized  men  began  to  think  it 
worth  the  peril  to  brave  the  dangers  of  the  iron  land  in  quest  of 
the  golden  stores  Nature  had  so  lavishly  treasured  in  the  strong- 
holds of  her  cliffs  and  torrents. 

Behring  Found  Gold. 

When  Behring,  after  whom  the  great  Northwestern  sea  beyond 
the  Aleutian  Island  is  named,  discovered  and  explored  the 
Alaskan  coast  in  1741,  he  found  gold,  but  he  found,  as  befitted 
the  climate  and  people,  more  furs  and,  with  auriferous  supplies 
nearer  home  in  the  convict-worked  mines  of  the  Czar's  domain, 
the  country  was  granted  for  fur-gathering  purposes  alone  by  the 
Emperor  Paul  to  the  Russo-American  Fur  Company,  and  with 
it  remained  until  the  Seward  purchase  in  1867  transferred  it  to 
the  United  States  for  a  consideration  (long  since  repaid  in  full) 
of  $7,200,000. 

Mineral  riches  were  hinted  at,  however,  by  the  early  explor- 
ers. In  1885  the  director  of  the  mint  credited  Alaska  with 
$300,000    in  gold   and   ^$2000  in  silver,   most  of  the  precious 


SPREAD   OF   THE    KLONDIKE    FEVER.  43 

metal  coming  from  Douglas  Island.  In  1896  the  total  output 
of  lode  and  placer  mines  in  Alaska  was  put  at  ^4,670,000  and 
in  1897  the  gold  output,  it  is  estimated,  will  reach  ^10,000,000, 
or  nearly  twice  that  of  Colorado  in  1892. 

The  first  great  gold  craze  in  the  extreme  Northwest  came  in 
1858.  The  Kootenai  region  was  famous  a  f.-w  }-cars  ago,  per 
petuating  the  fame  of  the  Frazer  River  mines.  The  Cariboo 
region  on  the  fifty-third  parallel,  proved  a  steady  and  constant 
producer.  Placers  were  also  worked  on  the  Peace  river.  In 
the  6o's  there  was  a  period  when  the  annual  production  ot  the 
northwest  province  exceeded  5-, 000, 000,  the  highest  figure 
being  ;^3,73 5,8 50.  Through  the  exhaustion  of  the  known 
deposits,  however,  the  product  fell  off  until,  in  1890,  it  was  less 
than  half  a  million. 

Prospecting  in   1883. 

Charles  McConky,  Ben  Beach,  George  Marx  and  Richard 
Poplin  set  out  from  Juneau  in  the  spring  of  1883  to  prospect 
the  interior  for  gold.  The  rich  deposits  which  were  making  the 
Tread  well  mine  famous  had  stimulated  inquiry  among  practical 
miners,  and  science  had  answered  that  the  mother  lode  lay 
somewhere  waiting  to  be  tapped  in  the  fastnesses  of  the  giant 
Rockies.  The  quartette  meant  to  find  it.  Crossing  the  divide 
in  the  early  spring,  they  reached  the  lakes  Avhich  constitute 
the  head  waters  of  the  Yukon  River,  while  they  were  yet  frozen, 
and  remained  there  building  their  boats  preparatory  to  going 
down  the  river  as  soon  as  the  opportunity  availed.  The  boats 
built  and  the  ice  having  disappearecL  they  continued  their 
journey  on  the  unknown  waters  of  the  Yukon. 

Upon  arriving  at  the  mouth  of  Stewart  Ri\'cr  and  being  favor- 
ably impressed  that  their  fortunes  lay  in  that  direction,  they 
proceeded  to  stem  this  stream  in  the   hopes   of  finding  things 


44 


SPREAD   OF  THE   KLONDIKE   FEVER. 


more  favorable,  as  they  had  seen  nothing  that  they  had  con- 
sidered diggings  up  to  that  time.  They  had  traveled  about  four 
miles  up  this  river  when  they  came  to  a  bar  that  carried  gold 
of  a  fine  order,  and  then  continued  up  the  ri\'er,  finding  many 
bars  which  were  afterwards  worked  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
owners. 

Dr.  C.  F.  Dickenson,  of  Kadiak  Island,  which  lies  just  at  the 


A    PROSPECTOR  S    TENT. 

mouth  of  Cook's  Inlet,  says  :  "When  I  left  Kodiak,  two  weeks 
ago,  the  people  were  leaving  all  that  section  of  country  and 
flocking  in  the  direction  of  Klondike.  In  a  way,  the  situation  is 
appalling,  for  many  of  the  industries  a.e  left  practically  without 
the  means  of  operation. 

"  Mines  that  were  paying  handsomely  at   Cook's   Inlet  have 
been  deserted. 


< 

u 

X 
u 

< 

cu, 
D 

O 

z 

w 


SPREAD  OF  THE  KLONDIKE  FEVER.       45 

"  In  my  opinion  there  arc  just  as  good  placer  diggings  to  be 
found  at  Cook's  Inlet  as  in  the  Klondike  region, 

"  There  is  not  a  foot  of  ground  in  all  that  country  that  does 
not  contain  gold  in  more  or  less  appreciable  quantities. 

"  There  is  room  there  for  thousands  of  men,  and  there  is  cer- 
tainly no  better  place  in  the  world  for  a  poor  man." 

There  is  good  reason  for  believing  from  the  reports  of  men 
well  acquainted  with  the  whole  region  that  there  is  gold  to  be 
found  anywhere  in  Alaska.  The  streams  flowing  into  the  great 
salt  channel  which  bounds  the  coast  below  Sitka  bear  many 
auriferous  evidences,  and  several  of  them,  as  for  example  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Fort  Wrangel,  have  been  worked  successfully 
heretofore.     Some,  indeed,  have  been  literally  "  washed  "  out, 

J.  W.  McCormick's  Strike. 
The  richest  gold  placers  in  the  upper  Yukon  were  discovered 
by  a  white  man  in  August,  1896.  The  find  was  due  to  the 
reports  of  Indians.  J.  W.  McCormick,  a  Scotchman,  who  had 
been  in  the  employ  of  William  Ogilvie,  Dominion  Land  Surveyor, 
for  seven  years  in  the  same  region,  was  the  lucky  prospector. 
He  located  a  claim  on  the  branch  of  the  Klondike,  which  has 
since  become  known  to  fame  as  Bonanza  Creek.  McCormick 
located  late  in  August,  1 896,  but  had  to  cut  some  logs  for  the 
mill  to  get  a  few  pounds  of  provisions  to  enable  him  to  begin 
work  on  his  claim.  The  fishing  of  Klondike  having  totally  failed 
him,  he  returned  with  a  few  weeks'  provisions  for  himself,  his 
wife  and  brother-in-law  (Indians)  and  another  Indian  in  the  last 
days  of  August,  and  immediately  set  about  working  his  claim. 
As  he  was  \'cry  short  of  appliances  he  could  only  put  together 
a  rather  defective  apparatus  to  wash  the  gravel  with.  The  gravel 
itself  he  had  to  carr)-  in  a  box  on  his  back  from  thirty  to  one 
hundred  feet.     Notwithstanding   this  the   three  men,  working 


~^Vr;-^ 


-^^- 

'^'^^ 

%::'ilr^'^^--- 

u 

^:feiry%rr?> 


PLACER    MIXING    ON    THE    KLONDIKE    RIVER. 


SPREAD    OF    THE    KT.ONDIKE    FEVER.  4', 

very  irregularly,  washed  out  ;$I200  in  eight  days,  and  McCormick 
asserts  with  reason  that  had  he  had  proper  facilities  it  could  have 
been  done  in  two  days,  besides  having  several  hundred  dollars 
more  gold  which  was  lost  in  the  tailings  through  defective 
apparatus. 

On  the  same  creek  two  men  rocked  out  ^75  i'l  about  four 
hours,  and  it  is  asserted  that  two  men  in  the  same  creek  took 
out  1^4008  in  two  days  with  only  two  lengths  of  sluice  boxes. 

A  branch  of  Bonanza  named  Eldorado  has  prospected  mag- 
nificently, and  another  branch  named  Tilly  Creek  has  prospected 
well ;  in  all  there  are  some  four  or  five  branches  to  Bonanza 
which  have  given  good  prospects.  There  were  about  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy  claims  staked  on  the  main  creek  in  the  summer 
of  '97,  and  the  branches  are  good  for  about  as  many  more 
aggregating  say  three  hundred  and  fifty  claims,  which  will 
require  over  one  thousand  men  to  work  properly. 

Spread  of  Klondike  Fever. 

The  Klondike  fever  spread  wherever  telegraph  wires  and 
newspapers  disseminated  the  wonderful  news  of  the  marvelous 
diggings. 

The  Londoner,  educated  to  gold  fevers  by  the  Rand  and 
Barney  Barnato,  began  besieging  the  trans-Atlantic  transporta- 
tion companies  for  intelligence  about  Alaska  and  the  gold  region 
of  his  own  Northwest  Territory.  Experienced  gold  miners  from 
South  Africa  thought  they  saw  a  bigger  st-ike  than  the  one  which 
had  lured  them  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  The  new  Canadian 
Trans-Atlantic  line  began  work  at  once  on  a  fleet  of  new  boats. 

In  America,  capitalists  and  poor  men.  Argonauts  and  "  tender^ 
feet"  went  well-nigh  crazy — literally  daft  with  the  mania  for 
gold.  In  the  cities  of  the  Pacific  coast  employes  in  all  industries 
threw  down  their  tools  and  abandoned  their  pursuits  to  go  to 


48       SPREAD  OF  THE  KLONDIKE  FEVER. 

Alaska  and  dig  in  the  river  bed  for  the  shining  nuggets.  In 
Tacoma  and  Seattle  telegrams  were  received  from  New  York 
and  London  inquiring  how  many  hundred  men  could  be 
equipped  on  short  notice  for  a  journey  to  the  gold  fields.  The 
street  car  employes  of  Tacoma,  at  a  mass  meeting,  selected  nine 
men  to  go  to  the  Klondike  for  the  benefit  of  the  rest  to  prospect 
and  locate  claims,  and  raised  a  sufficient  sum  to  equip  and  main- 
tain them. 

Hardly  had  the  news  of  the  Klondike  strike  got  fairly  started 
in  its  meteor-like  circuit  of  the  country  than  Seattle  and  Tacoma 
began  to  fill  with  men  and  women  hurrying  to  the  diggings. 
In  a  week  beds  could  not  be  had  at  the  hotels,  and  still  the 
throngs  of  gold-seekers  poured  in  from  all  directions  except  the 
West,  and  struggled  and  schemed  and,  in  a  bloodless  way,  fought 
for  fabulous  priced  chances  to  sail  for  the  Yukon  mines.  First 
cabin,  steerage,  'tween-decks  or  "on  deck" — it  was  all  one  to 
these  feverish  Argonauts  so  long  as  they  found  themselves 
under  way  to  Eldorado. 

Scene  on  "  Steamer  Day." 

Here  is  a  sample  description  of  a  Tacoma  scene  on  "steamer 
day,"  August  /th,  when  the  Willamette  cast  off  for  Alaska: 

"  The  most  excited  and  largest  crowd  of  people  that  has  ever 
gathered  on  the  ocean  docks  in  this  city,  on  any  occasion, 
gathered  to-day  to  see  the  steamer  Willamette  off  for  Alaska. 
Four  hundred  people  boarded  the  vessel  here,  and  their  friends 
and  relatives  and  thousands  of  sight-seers  gathered  to  see  the 
start.  The  passengers  came  from  all  parts  of  the  State  and  a 
sprinkling  from  all  over  the  United  States.  The  baggage  was 
carried  mostly  on  horseback,  only  a  few  mules  being  used. 
The  pack  trains  marched  through  the  city  in  droves,  and  Grand 
Army  men  said  it  reminded  them  of  war  times. 


SPREAD  OF  THE  KLONDIKE  FEVER. 


49 


"All  sorts  of  outfits  for  making  money  were  taken  aboard, 
from  a  bakery  to  gambling  tables.  Nearly  every  person  aboard 
has  a  list  of  from  six  to  three  dozen  persons  who  had  been 
promised  letters.      Fathers  parted  from  families  and  young  men 

from  their  sweethearts  at 
the  docks.  Not  a  few  of 
the  men  have  pledged 
their  families  and  friends 
that  they  will  not  return 
from  the  Eldorado  of  the 
North,  until  they  have 
amassed  a  fortune,  if  it 
takes  ten  years  to  accom- 
plish it. 

"Aboard     this    vessel, 
Tacoma  sent  forward  its 
first  installment  of  physi- 
cians and  surgeons  to  the 
Klondike.      The    doctors 
will    dig    for    nuggets,   if 
they  cannot  get  patients." 
Here  is  another  scene 
on    "steamer    day,"    de- 
scribed by  an  eye-witness : 
"  The  Alki  started  for 
Alaska  this  afternoon  with 
125  passengers,  800  sheep 
OFF  FOR  THE  MINES.  and    50  horses.      Crazed 

with  the  gold  fever  and  the  hope  of  reaching  Klondike  quickly, 
the  passengers  bade  good-bye  to  thousands  on  shore,  who  were 
crazed  because  they  could  not  go.  Food,  comfort,  sleep  were 
ignored  in  the  fierce  desire  to  get  to  the    gold  fields.     Those 


50  SPREAD  OF  THE   KLONDIKE    FEVER 

who  could  not  go  to  Alaska  stayed  on  the  dock  :ill  day,  shaking 
hands  with  those  who  were  going,  and  gazing  with  eyes  of  chagrin 
and  envy  on  the  lucky  ones  as  the  steamer  started  for  the  North. 
"There  was  grim  pathos  in  the  scene  on  the  dock  while  the 
goldhunters  were  waiting  for  permission  to  go  on  board.  Some 
were  taking  passage  who  would  surely  never  leave  Alaska  alive. 
They  had  heard  stories  of  the  returned  miners,  that  health  was 
an  absolute  requisite  in  the  terrible  climate  of  the  Klondike 
district.      They  smiled  and  knew  better. 

The  Ruling  Passion. 

"  One  man  said  he  was  suffering  from  lung  trouble,  but  that 
he  might  as  well  die  making  a  fortune  as  to  remain  on  the  shores 
of  Puget  Sound  and  die  in  poverty. 

"  Not  an  inch  of  room  was  left  on  the  Alki.  It  was  tested  to 
its  utmost  capacity.  Excited  men,  drunk  with  visions  of  fortunes, 
were  huddled  among  the  sheep,  horses  and  baggage.  Space 
was  valuable,  and  a  cattle  pen  had  been  constructed  on  the  main 
deck,  which  had  hitherto  been  reserved  for  passengers.  The 
sheep  were  put  on  board  only  after  the  crowd  had  been  driven 
back  from  the  steamer.  On  the  main  deck  the  horses  and  sheep 
will  stay  until  the  journey  by  water  is  ended.  When  port  is 
reached  the  pen  will  be  reduced  to  its  original  state  and  the 
lumber  put  to  new  use." 

The  same  day  the  Willamette  steamed  out  c  f  Tacoma  the 
Queen  sailed  from  Seattle  with  400  passengers  for  Dyea.  And 
over  twenty  steamers  were  then  due  to  sail  before  September  ist 
and  passage  on  any  one  was  already  at  a  premium.  New 
charters  were  being  made  daily  and  three  schooners  and  even 
two  scows  were  pressed  into  service  in  Seattle  the  day  the  Queen 
sailed.  It  is  estimated  Seattle  has  supplied  already  3500  pros- 
pectors and  Tacoma  1600. 


SPREAD    OF   THE    KLONDIKE    FEVER.  51 

Chicago  became  a  centre  for  Klondike  news  and  outfitting  at 
the  start  of  the  craze.  Over  five  hundred  men  had  either  left 
the  Windy  City,  or  were  practically  ready  to  leave,  for  the 
Klondike,  at  the  end  of  the  first  week  in  August,  r.nd  the  fever 
had  only  been  in  the  air  three  weeks.  All  sorts  and  descriptions 
of  men  were  in  the  ranks  of  prospectors — lawyers,  doctors, 
merchants,  bankers,  farmers'  and  city  men,  stalwart  giants  and 
men  whose  physique  gave  promise  rather  of  a  grave  beside  the 
trail  than  of  lasting  long  enough  to  "  wash  "  a  fortune  out  of  the 
frozen  Alaskan  gravel.  And  there  were  women,  too,  in  plenty, 
considering  the  hardships  to  be  encountered,  who  were  just  as 
anxious  to  get  into  the  wilderness  to  locate  claims  as  any  man 
who  wore  boots  in  the  crowd. 

Deny  Women  and  Weaklings. 

In  fact,  so  great  did  the  rush  of  women  and  of  men  of  seem- 
ingly weak  physique  become,  that  many  transportation  agents  at 
last  refused  to  book  any  but  those  evidently  the  most  robust, 
lest  they  should  die  enrcute  to  Dawson.  This  order  was  later 
revoked  as  to  women. 

Among  those  who  went  from  Chicago  in  early  August  were 
William  H.  Hubbard,  in  the  party  of  Mrs.  Eli  Gage  and  her 
brother,  W.  W.  Weare,  going  to  Dawson  to  take  the  manage- 
ment of  the  banking  system  to  be  established  by  the  North 
American  Transportation  and  Trading  Company  in  every  mining 
camp  in  Alaska  ;  Dr.  G.  E.  Meryman,  Gustave  Peterson  and  his 
two  sons,  Daniel  Wright,  Joseph  Roman,  F.  J.  Richardson, 
Mortimer  Stevens,  Dr.  C.  W.  Chamberlain  and  wife,  F.  M. 
Sessoies  and  wife,  F.  H.  Searle,  E.  H.  Craig  and  Miss  Alice 
Ross.  Miss  Minnie  Goddard,  the  well-known  organist  and 
pianiste  of  Aurora,  111.  ;  Miss  Grace  Allaire,  daughter  of  the 
late  Dr.  Allr.irc,  of  the  same  city,  and   Mrs.   Ira  W.  Lewis,  of 


52  SPREAD   OF   THE   KLONDIKE   FEVER. 

Dixon,  111.,  were  three  refined  and  dainty  who  left  with  a  party 
of  Chicago  to  cast  in  their  lot  with  the  masculine  argonauts  in 
the  land  of  frozen  gravel  ^nd  marvelous  "  pans." 

Montreal  sent  out  three  parties  the  first  and  second  weeks  in 
August,  numbering  altogether  some  fifty  men.  They  were  in 
charge  respectively  of  Ernest  Genest,  representing  the  Canadian- 
Yukon  Company;  C.  J.  McQuaig,  for  the  Montreal- London 
Gold  and  Silver  Development  Company,  limited  ;  and  W.  H. 
Scroggic,  the  St.  Catherine  Street  dry-goods  merchant,  whose 
companoins  were  principally  his  employes. 

Ex-Governor  John  H.  McGraw  and  General  E.  M.  Carr  left 
Seattle  for  Alaska  on  the  first  steamer  out  after  the  Portland 
arrived  with  its  golden  cargo — as  luck  would  have  it,  the  steamer 
was  the  treasure  boat,  the  Portland  itself  They  went  as  the 
representatives  of  the  Yukon,  Caribou,  British  Columbia  Gold 
Mining  Development  Company,  limited,  capital  ^i, 000,000. 
J.  Edward  Addicks,  of  Delaware,  is  the  head  of  the  company 
and  Senator  John  L.  Wilson  is  interested  in  it. 

Craze    in    W^all    Street. 

On  July  31st,  so  early  had  the  Klondike  fever  reached  the 
great  money  centres  of  the  land,  the  following  report  from  Wall 
Street  was  sent  over  the  country  : 

"  W^all  Street  has  been  seized  by  a  genuine  '  '49 '  gold  fever 
as  a  result  of  the  discoveries  in  the  Klondike.  Men  who  have 
mined  and  made  money ;  men  who  have  mined  and  lost  money ; 
men  who  have  always  thought  they  might  speculate  a  little  in 
mining,  and  men  who  have  had  a  complete  abhorrence  of  mining 
■ — all  seem  to  be  affected  the  same  way.  More  than  half  a  dozen 
banking  concerns,  and  as  many  individuals  in  Wall  Street,  whose 
standing  in  the  financial  world  is  the  very  best,  have  actually 
turned  away  from   ^5000  to   ^125,000  each  which  clients  and 


mim:ks'  rAiwNs  near  dawson  city 


SPREAD   OF   THE   KLONDIKE   FEVER.  53 

customers  wished  to  invest,  under  their  guidance  and  supervision 
in  the  great  gold  fields  of  Alaska.  Ladenburg,  Thalman  &  Co., 
H.  L.  Horton  &  Co.,  Kean,  Van  Cortlandt  &  Co.,  R.  P.  Lounds- 
berry  &  Co.,  and  Charles  Head  &  Co.,  arc  some  of  these  firms 
who  have  more  money  offered  them  for  investment  in  the  Klon- 
dike than  they  have  desired.  The  prejudice  against  mining  is 
waning.  Only  recently  bankers  who  dabbled  in  mines  were 
looked  upon  with  about  as  much  suspicion  by  their  cu.stomer£ 
and  the  money  world  as  a  bank  clerk  or  cashier  who  regularly 
played  faro,  roulette  and  the  races.  But  that  is  wearing  off  and 
the  best  concerns  are  beginning  to  mine  in  one  way  or  another. 
Among  these  various  down-town  banking  and  business  houses 
who  are  either  interested  in  the  Klondike,  who  have  sent  a  rep- 
resentative there  for  themselves  or  customers,  or  who  have  made 
up  their  minds  to  do  so,  arc  R.  P.  Loundsberry  &  Co.,  N.  Gug- 
genheim Sons,  Kean,  Van  Cortlandt  &  Co.,  Nicholas  Chemical 
Company,  H.  B.  Rollins  &  Co.,  H.  L.  Horton  &  Co.,  Charles 
Head  &  Co.,  and  Seligman  &  Co. 

Heard  from  Grub-stakers. 

Seven  men  living  near  Trenton,  N.  J.,  "grub-staked"  by  busi- 
ness men  of  Trenton  and  merchants  of  Philadelphia,  started  in 
April  for  the  Alaska  gold  fields.  W.  J.  Hibbcrt  headed  the 
expedition.  He  writes  that  they  have  laid  claim  to  eighty  miles 
of  dredger  land,  and  have  received  a  grant  of  twenty-one  placer 
claims,  which  will  be  added  to  the  dredger  lands.  He  says  that 
the  ground  is  rich,  and  within  a  mile  and  a  half  of  their  claim 
a  man  by  the  name  of  Lercno,  after  working  five  days,  found, 
on  clearing  up,  that  he  was  worth  $40,000  in  gold.  Another 
story  told  by  Hibbert  in  his  letter  is  that  another  miner,  after 
two   months'  work,  was  $150,000  to  the  good. 

Daniel    Guggenheim,  of    the    firm   of    M.    Guggenheim    & 


54  SPREAD   OF   THE    KLONDIKE   FEVER. 

Sons,  who  has  large  smelting  interests,  when  seen  at  his  Long 
Branch  cottage,  confirmed  the  reported  discoveries  in  the  Yukon 
countr)',  and  prophesied  that  the  new  fields  would  yield  far  in 
excess  of  even  present  roseate  indications.      He  said : 

"  For  some  time  my  firm  has  had  expert  mining  engineers  at 
work  in  Alaska,  and  their  reports  leave  no  doubt  that  the  Yukon 
gold  fields  will  prove  the  richest  in  the  world.  My  opinion  is 
that  as  soon  as  the  countr}'  has  been  opened  up  and  shipping 
facilities  furnished  the  output  of  gold  will  be  simply  enormous. 
As  the  production  of  gold  increases  silver  will  be  enhanced 
in  value.     This  I  regard  as  certain." 

English     Royalty    Affected. 

English  royalty  fell  before  the  golden  idol  of  the  Klondike. 
No  less  a  personage  than  the  Duke  of  Fife,  son-in-law  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  subscribed  to  an  incorporation  formed  in  Lon- 
don for  the  purpose  of  exploring  the  Klondike  region  and  pur- 
chasing such  mines  as  its  accredited  representatives  may  decide 
are  worth  the  investment. 

The  enterprise  will  be  known  as  the  Klondike  Exploration 
Company,  limited.  It  is  stated  that  the  company  in  which  the 
Duke  of  Fife  is  interested  will  operate  along  lines  similar  to 
the  British   South  Africa  Company. 

But  great  as  was  the  number,  considering  the  time  available 
for  catching  a  good  hard  case  of  the  Klondike  fever,  who  had 
succeeded  in  getting  away  for  the  diggings  in  person  before  the 
marvelous  news  from  the  Northwest  was  yet  a  month  old  ;  they 
were  but  a  fraction  of  the  total,  who  had  fallen  ready  victims 
to  the  "  placer  malady." 

r^Iany  hundreds  of  men  and  m;aiy  more  hundreds  of  women,  who 
were  crazy  to  own  some  kind  of  an  interest  in  the  wonderful  gold 
fields,  but  who  were  prevented  by  other  business,  by  family  cares, 


SPREAD    UF    illE    KLUNDIKI':    Fi:\'ER.  55 

by  sickness  of  a  strictly  pathological  kind,  by  poverty,  or  by 
other  insuperable  reasons,  from  taking  personal  part  with  the 
adventurers  going  into  the  Klondike,  had  syndicated  their  money 
with  their  friends  and  arranged  to  send  "  grub-stakers  "  into  tb.e 
new  Galconda,  hoping  thus  vicariously,  at  least,  to  partake  of 
the  profits,  if  they  could  not  share  in  the  hardships  and  the 
hazards  of  gold  seeking. 

It  is  estimated  that  at  least  five  times  as  many  people  put  up 
their  money  on  "grub-stakes"  as  attempted  to  become  advent- 
urers in  person,  and  it  would  require  a  much  larger  figure  to 
express  the  probable  ratio  of  the  money  applied  to  outfitting 
representative  prospectors  and  the  cash  spent  in  personal  equip- 
ment by  intending  argonauts. 

Besides  this,  in  estimating  the  prevalence  of  the  gold  craze  in 
terms  of  dollars  and  cents,  account  must  be  taken  of  the  mush- 
room-like appearance  of  "Mining  Co-operations  "  and  "  Placer 
Syndicates"  and  "Poor  Men's  Chances,"  to  say  nothing  of  the 
host  of  legitimate  incorporated  mining  or  prospecting  or  develop- 
ment concerns,  which  by  presenting  shares  at  low  figures,  draw 
tens  of  thousands  of  dollars  from  thousands  of  pockets  into  their 
coffers  and  which  quite  as  emphatically  represented  the  virulence 
of  the  Klondike  fever  as  did  the  steamer  lists,  or  the  names  of 
those  who  meant  to  brave  the  Chilkoot  Pass  with  the  slogan 
Df  "  Klondike  or  Bust." 

Table  of  New  Companies. 

No  better  illustration  of  the  extent  and  vigor  of  the  Klondike 
craze  can  be  given  than  is  exhibited  in  the  following  table  of 
com.panies  organized  or  in  process  of  formation  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  gold  fields  in  the  upper  Yukon  region.  The  total 
capitalization  of  the  different  syndicates  foots  up  5164,512,500. 
After  allowing    for    the    regular    syndicate    grain    of   salt,    the 


56 


SPREAD    OF    THE    KLONDIKE    FEVER. 


remaining  total  is  still  vast  enough  to  indicate  that  no  small 
portion  of  the  American  temperate  zone  has  gone  daft  over  the 
reported  strikes  in  the  Arctic  mountains. 

The  stream  of  humanity,  setting  toward  the  north  pole,  is  a 
veritable  exodus  toward  a  new  Land  of  Promise.  Up  to  August 
8th,  over  8000  men  are  officially  reported  to  have  started  for  the 
Klondike,  or  made  arrangements  to  do  so. 


Statistics  of   Millions, 
Here  are  the  naked  figures  :• 

Companies.  Town. 

Bohemian  Klondike  Syndicate Baltimore  .    . 

Three  Syndicates Boston    .    .    . 

Cudahy-Hcaly-Yukon  Klondike   Mining 

Company Chicago .    .    . 

Alaska  Transportation  and  Development 

Company  .    .    .  • Chicago .   .    . 

Transportation  and  mining  company  in 

processor  organization,  not  yet  named  .  Chicago  .   .    . 

Wilkins  Syndicate • Cleveland  .    . 

Unnamed  syndicate Cleveland  .   . 

Two  companies Cripple  Creek 

Alaska-Klondike  Gold  ]Mining  and  De- 
velopment  Company Col.  Springs. 

Council  Bluffs  Mining  and  Exploration 

Company Council  Bluffs 

Six  companies Denver  .    .    . 

Indiana  Mining  Company Indianapolis 

General  INIining  and  Developing  Co.  .    .  Kansas  Citj-  . 

Herald   Employees Lexington     . 

Lincoln  Gold  and  Improvement  Co.  .    .  Lincoln  .    .    . 

Acme  Development  Company New   York    . 

Yukon-Caribou    British    Columbia   Gold 

Mining  Development  Company   .    .    .  New   York    . 

Northwest  Mining  and  Trading  Companj-.  New  York   . 

Exploration  Syndicate New  York   . 


Xo.  who 
Capital-  have  left 
izatiou.       for  gold 

fields. 


Not  decided 

5-50,000 


120 

150 


25,000,000  500 

5,000,000  .  .    . 

100,000,000  ,  .    . 

4,000  .  .    . 

400  ..    . 

300,000  30 

1,000,000  .  .    . 


100,000 

8 

2,825,000 

35 

200,000   . 

Not  dnncd. 

10 

1,000 

12 

50,000 

11 

150,000 

100 

5,000,000   . 

5,000,000   . 

100,000  . 

,    , 

SPREAD    OK    THK    KLONDIKE    FEVER. 


57 


The  Gold  Syndicate New   York   .    .  5,000,000  .    . 

The  New  Vork  and  Alaska  Gold  Explo- 
ration and  Trading  Company New   York   .    .  1,000,000  .    .    . 

Norse- American  Gold  Company  (Ltd.  )•  New  York   .    .  750,000  .    .    . 

The  Philadelphia  and  Alaska  Gold  Mining 

Syndicate .  Philadelphia    .  500,000  52 

Alaska  Gold  Company Pittsburg       .    .  1,000,000  .    .    . 

Pittsburg- Alaskan  Company Pitisburg  .    .    .  25,000  .    .    . 

Four  transportation  companies Portland,  Ore.     -j 

Two  trading  companies Portland,  Ore.     1-       500,000  52C 

Six  mining  companies Portland.  Ore.    J 

Register  employees Richmond,  Ky.  1,200  .    .    . 

McDonald  Syndicate St.  Louis  .    .    .  50,000  .    .    . 

Minnesota-Ontario  Gold  Mining  Co.  .    .  St.    Paul    .    .    .  1,000,000  .    .    . 

Klondike  Mining  Company,  vSt.  Paul  .    .  St.    Paul    ...  900  ..    . 

Yukon-Klondike  Mining  and  Investment 

Company St.    Paul        .    .  5,000,000  .    .    . 

Eight  companies San  Francisco  .  800,000  1,400 

Unnamed  syndicate San  Francisco  .  1,000,000  .    .    . 

Klondike  Commercial  and  Transportation 

Company Seattle   ....  1,000,000  3,500 

SeattleandYukon  Commercial  Company. Seattle   ....  1,000,000  .    .    . 

Alaska  Transportation  Company  .    .    .    .Seattle  ....  100,000  .    .    . 

Dodwell  and  Corlill  Steamship  Company.  Tacoma  .    .    .    .  250,000  1,600 

Twenty-one  syndicates Tacoma.    .    .    .  755,000  .    .    . 

Old  Miners  Catch  the  Fever. 
Old  miners  on  the  Pacific  slope  supplied  some  of  the  earliest 
victims  of  the  fever  and  some  of  the  first  recruits  in  the  rapidly- 
swelling  awny  of  the  gold  seekers.  The  rush  to  the  Klondike 
seriously  affected  the  mine  owners  on  the  mother  lode  in  the 
vicinity  of  Senora,  Jackson  and  Sutter  Creek,  California,  and 
threatened  to  cause  the  closing  down  of  the  mines  in  Calaveras, 
Amador  and  Tualumne  counties.  A  large  party  of  skilled 
miners  from  this  region  sailed  from  San  Francisco  for  Alaska  on 
August  /th,  and  another  party  was  then  forming  which  expected 
to  go  in  by  way  of  Dyea  before  the  winter  grasp  of  September 
was  upon  the  passes.     The  Oneida  and  Kennedy  mines,  near 


1 1 


58 


SPREAD    OF   Till':    KLONDIKl':    l-'EVjJ<.  5 J 

Jackson,  had  lost  the  majorit\-  of  ihcir  men  before  the  news  by 
the  Portland  was  ten  days  old. 

Joaquin  Miller  Among  the  First. 

Nor  was  the  rush  to  the  new  diggings  confined  to  the  wage- 
earning  miners.  One  of  the  first  of  the  '49crs  to  respond  was 
Joaquin  Miller,  "  the  Poet  of  the  Sierras."  The  steamer  Port- 
land made  port  from  St.  Michael's  with  its  wonderful  cargo  ol 
yellow  dust  and  nuggets  on  July  17th,  and  on  the  26th  of  the 
same  month  the  venerable  and  veteran  miner  of  the  earliest 
California  and  Nevada  and  Idaho  gold  fields  had  forsaken  his 
cozy  home  nestled  among  the  foothills  of  Oakland,  and  was 
steaming  out  of  the  harbor  of  Victoria,  B.  C,  on  the  good  ship 
City  of  Mexico,  bound  with  pick,  pan  and  pack  like  any  other 
lover  of  roughing  it,  on  the  long  road  to  Dyea  and  over  the 
Chilkoot  Pass  to  the  Klondike. 

Some  of  his  impressions  enroute  will  be  found  elsewhere  in 
this  volume,  and  their  bright,  buoyant  wording  shows  the  Klon- 
dike fever  could  set  the  blood  throbbing  as  fiercely  in  senile 
veins  as  in  the  arteries  of  the  most  recklessly  sanguine  lad  of  a 
"  tenderfoot  "  that  ever  w^cnt  to  the  mines  to  learn  that  all  is  not 
gold  that  glitters.  One  of  the  aged  poet's  fancies  was  to  pack 
his  own  outfit  in  and  earn  his  living  by  day's  work,  and  to  make 
his  election  sure  he  carried  a  ridiculously  small  sum  of  money 
with  him,  though  he  had  a  buckskin  bag  all  read}'  for  the 
"  dust  "  he  expected  certainly  to  find  even  more  lavishly  distri- 
buted in  the  Yukon  valley  than  in  California  in  the  golden  days 
when  the  bed  of  every  stream  held  a  yellow  fortune. 

E.  J.  Baldwin,  of  San  I'rancisco,  better  known  as  "  Lucky  " 
Baldwin,  millionaire  hotel  man,  miner,  landowner,  turfman  and 
orange  grower,  himself  a  California  argonaut  of  the  days  of  '49, 
who   had   had  hard  attacks  in     his     time  of  the  Washoe  and 


60  SPREAD    OF   THE    KLONDIKE    FEVER. 

Frazer  River  gold  fevers,  was  another  of  the  first  "big"  men  on 
the  coast  to  catch  the  Alaska  fever. 

The  millionaire  announced  his  intention  to  go  to  the  Klon- 
dike, not  to  seek  the  great  nuggets  and  coarse"  grains  of  gold 
found  in  the  creek  beds,  but  to  find,  if  possible,  the  ledge,  the 
mother  lode  from  which  all  this  treasure  comes.  He  will  not 
go  in  until  spring,  however. 

"  I  will  not  stop  at  Klondike,"  said  he,  "but  will  push  right 
into  the  mountains,  where  I  am  sure  there  must  be  rich  quartz 
ledges.  Ample  machinery  will  be  shipped  to  Dawson  or  else- 
where, if  I  succeed  in  locating  a  paying  claim.  I  think  the  big 
fortunes  will  be  made  in  the  quartz  districts  and  not  in  the 
placers,  which  will  be  sure  to  give  out  if  so  many  thousands  of 
people  will  persist  in  rushing  into  the  country. 

"  I  am  going  next  spring,"  continued  Mr.  Baldwin,  "  and 
expect  to  take  twenty-five  or  thirty  husky  young  men  with  me 
who  can  work  and  endure  the  hardships.  I  am  seventy-one 
years  old,  but  still  feel  strong  enough  to  do  a  little  prospecting. 
It  is  also  my  intention  to  take  a  lot  of  machinery  along  for  lode 
mining.  My  notion  of  the  situation  there  is  that  the  placer 
mining  they  are  carrying  on  is  an  indication  that  there  is  gold  in 
large  quantities  back  in  the  mountains.  I  shall  hunt  out  these 
deposits,  and,  equipped  with  modern  machinery,  will  do  a  regu- 
lar mining  business.  I  am  convinced  the  gold  is  there  ;  conse- 
quently, I  will  be  taking  no  long-risk  chances." 

"  Lucky's  "  Idea  of  an  Outfat. 

Mr.  Baldwin  also  gave  his  ideas  of  the  provisions  a  man 
starting  to  the  Klondike  should  provide  himself  with.  He 
excluded  coffee  and  ham  from  the  supplies,  would  fill  a  box  with 
articles  of  this  sort,  giving  the  amount  for  one  month's  use  : 

Chocolate,  /^^  pounds,  or  tea,  3^  pounds;  rolled  oats,  jy^ 


'J5 
-3 

n 
■A 
D 


SPREAD   OF   THE  K-LONDIKE   FEVER.  61 

>  .  - 

pounds;  navy   beans,    22 '<    pounds,    or    bacon,   37jE^   pounds; 

flour,  30   pounds;  salt,    3?^   pounds;  pickles,  60  cents'  worth; 

cayenne  pepper,   '^  pound  for  eighteen  months,  four  cakes  dry 

yeast. 

Wonderful  Letter  of  G.  H.  Cole. 

Some  of  the  stories  told  about  the  marvelous  golden  wealth 
of  the  Klondike  would  be  ample  excuse  for  the  worst  recorded 
cases  of  the  fever.  ,  Here  is  one  written  from  Dawson  Cit\^  by 
G.  H.  Cole  to  his  wife  in  Seattle,  which  speaks  for  itself  Mr. 
Cole  says  : 

"This  is  a  wonderful  country.  There  is  enough  gold  here  to 
load  a  steamboat.  Lots  of  men  have  made  all  they  want  since 
last  fall,  and  gone  out.  There  is  hardly  a  day  but  there  is  from 
one  to  half  a  dozen  come  from  the  mines  with  all  the  gold  they 
can  carry.  One  man  had  so  much  he  had  to  get  several  men  to 
help  him  carry  it  out.  He  gave  the  mine  to  a  friend  to  do  what 
he  wanted  with  it.      He  was  a  Seattle  man. 

"  Some  of  the  men  who  have  been  out  to  the  mines  say  there 
is  more  gold  here  than  they  ever  saw  in  their  lives,  and  some  of 
the  old  miners,  who  have  been  in  most  all  the  mining  countries 
in  the  world,  say  it  beats  anything  they  ever  saw.  Around 
some  of  the  camps  they  have  it  piled  up  like  farmers  have  their 
wheat,  and  in  other  camps  they  have  all  their  cooking  utensils 
full  of  gold  and  standing  in  corners  as  if  it  were  dirt.  Some 
are  taking  out  ;$  100,000  a  day.  Old  miners  say  there  has  been 
enough  gold  located  to  dig  up  for  the  next  twenty  years." 

Many  and  queer  are  the  schemes  that  have  grown  out  of  the 
Klondike  craze,  and  the  more  and  the  queerer  they  are  the  more 
virulent  is  the  attack.  The  very  air  is  full  of  schemes ;  some 
alluring,  some  preposterous,  more  merely  audacious.  The  gold 
fever  marked  the  heyday  of  the  dreamer  and  the  enthusiast,  not 
to  say  the  crank. 


62  SPREAD    OV     11  IK    KLONDIKI':    FEVER. 

But  some  attention  is  wortli  payin^j  to  these  projects  of  vision- 
aries if  for  no  other  reason  than  to  show  how  far-reaching  and 
insidious  is  the  Klondike  mania — for  dreamers  have  little  merit 
unless  there  are  enough  of  people  who  believe  in  dreams. 

"  If  I  were  to  giv^e  you  the  details  of  some  of  the  schemes 
that  have  been  submitted  to  me  recently  for  making  money  in 
the  Klondike,"  said  one  Chicago  capitalist,  "you  would  think 
some  insane  asylum  had  been  thrown  open,  and  the  inmates 
turned  loose.  Some  of  the  ideas  are  not  bad  in  themselv^es,  but 
arc  impracticable  owing  to  the  conditions  of  the  country.  Others 
are  simply  the  rankest  form  of  lunacy,  while  others  yet  are 
downright  swindles.  People  who  would  not  even  think  of  sug- 
gesting a  fraud  in  connection  with  ordinary  business  have  no 
hesitation  in  boosting  up  a  fraud  in  a  mining  boom.  As  a  rule, 
however,  the  irresponsible  schemers  are  merely  wild-eyed  cranks, 
who  have  an  honest  confidence  in  their  own  plans." 

Traps  for  Ready  Money. 

Inventors,  speculators,  promoters,  and  prospectors  are  going 
about  like  modern  genii  with  propositions  for  making  everybody 
immensely  rich.  Acquiring  great  wealth  depends  solely  upon 
immediate  use  of  a  little  ready  money.  Shares  in  the  Consoli- 
d.:ted  Trans-Alaskan  Gopher  Company,  offered  at  one  dollar  each, 
will  return  dividends  of  ten  dollars  a  minute  as  soon  as  the  com- 
pany gets  to  work.  The  idea  is  to  take  contracts  for  tunneling 
cL^ims  with  trained  gophers.  Nothing  is  impossible,  nothing 
chimerical. 

Men  with  seedy  garments  and  faces  bearing  all  too  plainly  tlie 
marks  of  hunger  and  want,  rub  elbows  with  portly,  well-fed 
individuals  and  talk  glibly  about  millions  to  be  had  in  various 
ways.  Newspapers  are  full  of  advertisements  calling  for  finan- 
cial aid  in  developing  Alaskan  projects,  offices  of  transportation 


SPREAD  OF  THE  KLONDiKP:  I  i:vi:k.  on 

lines  are  besieged  by  hundreds  of  impecunious  beings  who  seek 
to  make  their  wits  pay  the  price  of  passage  to  the  Eldorado, 
and  on  every  street  corner  people  are  encountered  with  Klondike 
schemes  in  varying  forms  of  development.  Women  have  the 
craze  as  badly  as  men  ;  and  some  of  their  hobbies  are,  if  any- 
thing, even  more  outlandish. 

But  while  the  schemes-  and  yams  of  visionaries,  charlatans  and 
cranks  are  worth  laughing  at  for  their  absurdity  or  avoiding  for 
their  concealed  rascality,  there  is  another  side  to  the  story  which 
appeals  to  earnest  men  with  almost  irresistible  force.  That  is 
the  record  of  the  men  who  have  "  struck  it  rich  "  in  the  placers 
of  this  ver}'  Klondike — of  the  men  who  have  gone  in  poor  and 
come  out  in  a  few  short  months,  or  even  weeks,  rich  for  life  ;  of 
the  men  who  took  stock  in  the  tales  of  the  fabulous  wealth  wait- 
ing in  that  frozen  Yukon  valley  gravel  to  be  "  washed  "  out,  and 
who,  with  wise  forethought,  prepared  themselves  for  a  fierce 
battle  with  the  Arctic  elements  and  then  braved  the  hardships 
and  privations  of  the  wilderness  to  emerge  in  time  laden  with 
their  golden  fruits  of  victory. 

From  Alaska  Mining    Record. 

Elsewhere  in  this  volume  will  be  found  a  more  detailed  account 
of  those  who  "  struck  it  rich"  on  the  Klondike;  to"  show  that 
there  is  a  bright  side  to  the  picture,  the  following  from  the 
Alaska  Mining  Record,  of  Juneau,  of  June  30th,  is  sufficient.  It 
'  relates  to  the  arrival  of  Jack  Hayes,  the  mail  carrier  from  the 
Yukon.  : 

"  Much  excitement  prevails  all  through  the  Yukon  district  over 
the  Klondike  discoveries,  and  all  kinds  of  stories  of  the  richei 
there  are  told,  many  of  which  j\Ir.  Hayes  says  are  true.  It  is 
true  that  two  tenderfeet,  railroad  men  from  Los  Angeles,  Cal. — 
Frank    Summers    and    Charles    Clemens — have    struck    it    rich. 


64  SPREAD    OF   THE    KLONDIKE    FEVER. 

They  went  in  a  year  ago  and  located  on  the  Klondike  last  fall. 
Clemens  sold  his  interest  for  $35,000  cash,  and  his  partner, 
Summers,  held  on  two  weeks  later  and  got  $50,000.  The 
money  to  pay  the  men  was  taken  out  of  the  dump  which  had 
been  lifted  from  the  shaft  on  the  claim  during  the  winter.  These 
two  men  had  each  panned  out  $2500  on  their  claim  while  pros- 
pecting it.  The  man  that  bought  Clemens'  interest  bound  the 
bargain  with  a  $232  nugget  which  had  been  taken  from  the 
Klondike.      Neither  man  had  had  any  experience  in  mining. 

"  Alec  McDonald  took  one  pan  from  his  claim  which  tipped 
the  scales  to  the  tune  of  $800,  and  offered  a  wager  of  $1000 
that  he  could  pick  his  dirt  and  in  twenty  minutes  get  a  pan  that 
would  go  over  100  ounces  ($1600).  No  one  cared  to  cover  the 
wager. 

"  Dick  Lowe  is  panning  for  a  living,  and  is  taking  out  the 
modest  sum  of  $100  a  day. 

"Two  'tenderfeet'  from  Chicago,  named  Wier  and  Beecher, 
leased  a  piece  of  ground  for  sixty  days,  paid  a  royalty  of 
$10,000,  and  divided  $20,000.  The  miners  have  only  advanced 
up  the  Klondike  nine  miles,  and  at  that  distance  there  are  several 
claims  that  will  produce  $1,000,000  apiece. 

Assays     Enormously   Rich. 

The  latest  reports  from  this  cold  gold  clime  consist  of  speci 
mens  which  were  sent  to  California  for  assay  tests,  and  the) 
show  enormous  returns  of  gold. 

The  gold  find,  however,  in  this  Alaskan  Territory'  is  not  new. 
although  the  facts  are  just  beginning  to  be  appreciated  by  the 
public.  The  unanimous  verdict  of  investigators  in  this  northern 
countr)'  has  always  been  that  gold  abounded  in  great  quantities, 
but  the  difficulty  has  been  to  get  it  out  and  away  with  any 
degree  of  profit.     Mining  on  a  small  scale  has  been  practically 


SPREAD    OF   THE    K1,0.\DIKE    FEVER  Oo 

impossible.  The  adventurer  without  money  would  lidve  no 
chance  to  strike  it  rich,  e\'en  if  lie  could  manaLje  to  raise  the 
sum  necessary  to  take  him  to  the  country.  The  rigors  of  the 
winter  preclude  any  work  in  that  se;ison,  and  the  absence  of  any 
commercial  facilities  in  the  new  minint^  districts  prevents  any 
digging  that  is  not  connected  with  some  large  organized  plan. 
But  for  the  company  or  individuals  with  capital  and  enterprise 
the  prospect  seems  to  be  of  the  best.  The  introduction  of 
improved  machinery — which  has  already  begun — and  the  en- 
largement of  the  transportation  "Tacilities  on  the  long  Yukon 
River  will    soon  bring    these    golden  riches  within    easy  reach 

of  the  States. 

Natural  Exaggerations. 

The  stories  of  finds,  however,  must  be  taken  with  usual 
reser\'ations.  There  will  be  natural  exaggerations  not  only  of 
the  richness  of  the  gold  but  of  the  character  of  the  hardships 
that  must  be  endured.  Alaska  is  no  balmy  California.  There 
is  no  comforting  warmth  most  of  the  )'ear  to  sustain  the  spirits  of 
the  wearied  seeker  after  wealth.  The  battle  for  gold  there  includes 
a  battle  with  a  hostile  nature  which  has  guarded  her  treasure  house 
with  icy  blasts  for  all  these  centuries.  It  is  no  place  for  the  lag- 
gard if  all  reports  be  true,  but  for  the  man  of  courage  and  deter- 
mination it  seems  to  be  a  land  of  great  promise. 

One  of  the  evidences  of  the  Klondike  craze  is  freighted  with 
ill  omen  to  the  owners  of  salmon  canneries  and  of  whaUng 
vessels.  Startling  rumors  have  come  from  the  north  that 
parties  of  fishermen  and  sailors  are  coming  across  countr)- 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Mackenzie  River  into  the  Klondike,  and, 
should  this  prove  true,  many  vessels  now  staunch  and  trim  will 
be  rotting  on  the  Arctic  coast  when  the  snows  of  next  winter 
have  cleared  away. 

At    Herschel   Island,  which   is    situated   in   the  Arctic    Ocean 

5 


66  SPREAD    OF   THE    KLONDIKE    FEVER. 

near  the  mouth  of  the  Mackenzie  River,  a  large  number  of 
salmon  fishers  have  niarle  their  headquarters.  During  the 
summer  months,  when  the  Mackenzie  River  is  open,  these  fisher- 
men, in  their  myriad  of  small  craft,  go  up  the  river  in  quest  of 
salmon.  There  are  a  number  of  canneries  on  the  Mackenzie. 
Ov'er  lOO  deep-sea  vessels  are  annually  needed  to  bring  the  sea- 
sons pack  down  from  the  Arctic.  It  is  believed  the  fishermen 
and  crews  which  went  north  to  bring  back  the  pack  ha\e  heard 
of  the  wonderful  gold  strikes  and,  taking  the  provisions  with 
which  their  vessels  were  stored^have  deserted  and  struck  out  for 
the  gold  fields. 

Owners  of  whaling  vessels  which  winter  at  Herschel  Island 
are  as  much  alarmed  as  are  the  canning  companies.  There  are 
at  least  300  men  belonging  to  the  whaling  fleet,  and  it  is  proba- 
ble that  they  and  the  fishermen  are  now  delving  into  the  Klondike 

soil  for  gold. 

Days  of  '49  and  '97. 

In  many  ways  the  "  days  of  '49  "  in  California  and  the  "  days 
of  '97  "  in  the  Klondike  are  alike.  To  the  average  man  the 
treasures  of  the  coast  State  were  seemingly  as  inaccessible  as 
those  of  the  Yukon  and  its  tributaries.  The  one  lay  beyond 
2000  miles  of  trackless  desert  and  snow-clad  mountains  beset 
ivith  savage  hordes  whose  bloody  welcome  to  the  gold  seeker 
■narked  the  trail  from  the  Missouri  to  the  coast  with  the  whitening 
.^Dones  of  "pale-face"  prospectors  ;  the  other  lies  7000  miles  by 
water,  or  4000  miles  by  land  and  water,  from  civilization,  beyond 
mountain  passes  as  hazardous  to  scale  as  those  of  the  Swiss  Alps  • 
and  guarded  from  the  greed  of  man  by  the  icy  rigors  of  the  Arctic 
climate  hardly  less  effectually  than  were  the  riches  of  California 
by  the  sanguinary  red  man. 

The  tales  of  fabled  wealth  which  set  the  world  crazy  to  go  to 
the  CaUfornia  mines  were  not  less  wonderful  than   those  which 


SPREAD    OF   THE    KLONDIKE    FEVER.  67 

returning  argonauts  bring  from  the  upper  Yukon  country,  and 
both  are  confirmed  by  the  yellow  nuggets  whose  mute  testimony 
to  the  modern  Cathay  is  unimpeachable.  And  the  excitement  in 
America  is  greater  than  in  the  wildest  days  of  the  South 
African  or  the  Australian  strikes. 

Both  in  California  and  in  the  Klondike,  the  first  mining  was  in 
placers,  "  poor  man's  mining,"  because  no  expensive  machinery 
is  required — onl}'  a  pick,  spade  and  pan,  with  nature's  sluiceway 
of  a  nearby  stream  for  water. 

And,  again,  the  "tenderfoot"  often  struck  it  rich  where  the 
old  miner  had  trouble  to  find  enough  "dust"  to  buy  his  daily 
food. 

It  was  every  man's  gold  mine.      Nature  had  no  favorites. 

No  wonder  people  went  gold  crazy. 

Fever  Reaches  a  Climax. 

The  symptoms  of  the  climax  of  the  first  attack  of  the  Klon- 
dike fever  came  relatively  soon  after  the  yellow  malady  became 
epidemic.  The  fever  began  on  July  27th,  1897  ;  by  August  1 5th 
the  worst  was  over,  and  the  tens  of  thousands  of  poor  men  who 
wanted  to  be  rich  in  a  hurry,  and  of  rich  men  who  wanted  to  be 
richer,  of  adventurers  who  were  always  ready  for  anything  excit- 
ing, and  of  level-headed  business  men  who  had  been  crazy  for 
only  a  few  brief  days  over  the  marvelous  tales  oc'  wealth  to  be 
had  for  the  washing,  had  begun  to  convalesce  and  reason  that  if 
the  Klondike  was  really  as  fabulously  rich  as  it  was  reported  to 
be,  there  would  likely  be  some  gold  left  at  the  diggings  when 
spring  came,  and  the  perils  to  health  and  even  life  on  the  long 
journey  "in"  were  somewhat  diminished  by  mild  weather. 

Would-be  argonauts  who  could  not  get  passage  to  Dyea  or 
Juneau  on  the  overcrowded  steamers  began  to  content  themselves 
perforce  to  stay  at  home ;  and  weary  and  disgusted  prospectors, 


GS  SPREAD    OF    THE    KLONDIKE    FEVER. 

who  had  been  stranded  by  the  stampede  at  the  mouths  of  the 
mountain  passes,  began  to  pour  back  to  winter  amid  creature 
comforts  in  the  homes  of  civilization,  and  pack  up  at  leisure  for 
another  venture  in  the  spring.  People  found  time  to  get  cool, 
and  they  took  it. 

But  what  a  craze  it  was  while  it  lasted  !  Even  the  days  of 
'49  were  fairly  eclipsed  by  the  universality  of  the  gold  insanity 
of  '97.  Every  city  in  the  Union  contributed  to  the  horde  of 
gold  hunters  pressing  and  pushing  and  scrambling  on  to  the  new 
Eldorado.  Even  the  little  hamlets  of  the  land  sent  their  quota, 
and  men  swarmed  by  thousands  around  the  wharves  of  San 
Francisco,  Portland,  Tacoma,  and  Seattle,  and  "put  up"  their 
last  cent  for  a  fighting  chance  in  the  mad  rush  for  the  Yukon 
placers.  Canada  sent  its  thousands  through  the  States  and  along 
its  own  routes,  and  across  the  Atlantic  the  fever  spread  'till  even 
the  great  house  of  Rothschild  was  infected  and  sent  a  confiden- 
tial agent  to  inspect  the  wonderful  gold  fields  in  its  behalf. 

London  Gets  the  Craze. 

A  London  correspondent  of  a  New  York  newspaper  wrote  in 
these  words  on  August  ist: 

"Were  it  not  so  late  both  in  the  London  and  the  Yukon  sea- 
son, the  fashionable  thing  for  society  young  men  to-day  would 
be  to  make  up  a  party  to  dare  the  dangers  of  the  Chilkoot  Pass 
and  explore  the  Yukon  River,  even  at  the  risk  of  gold-laden 
aristocrats  meeting  mythical  pirates  on  their  homeward  journey. 
The  gold  fever  has  spread  here  far  wider  than  the  narrow  limits 
of  so-called  London  society,  and  there  would  have  been  a  mad 
rush  to  the  diggings  from  England  of  all  the  men  and  boys  who 
could  beg,  borrow,  or  steal  ;$200  had  not  one  or  two  explorers 
sounded  a  shriek  of  alarm,  and  the  Emigration  Information  Office 
issued  a  plain  warning  to  the  effect  that  it  would  be  quite  useless 


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SPREAD    OF   THE    KLONDIKE    FEVER.  69 

to  start  hence  before  next  April.  Meanwhile  such  terrible  pict- 
ures are  being  painted,  in  colors  laid  on  so  thickly,  and  the 
deadly  perils  of  White  Horse  Rapids  and  Chilkoot  are  so  strongly 
emphasized  that  tlioughtful  men  are  not  without  the  keen  sus- 
picion that  the  worthy  Canadians  arc  doing  their  best  to  scare 
away  intruders  and  keep  their  own  treasure  at  home," 

New  York  and   Chicago. 

New  York  and  Chicago  had  the  fever  hard.  Men  who  had 
mined  and  made  money,  men  who  had  mined  and  lost  money, 
men  who  had  always  thought  they  would  like  to  speculate  in 
mining,  and  men  who  had  abhorred  the  very  word,  were  stricken. 
Bankers,  brokers,  business  men  and  nonentities,  from  James  R. 
Keene  to  plain  John  Smith,  went  wild.  Before  July  was  out, 
companies  representing  an  aggregate  capitalization  of  ^18,000,000 
had  been  organized  in  New  York  City  alone  to  traffic,  or  dig,  or 
grub-stake  in  the  Yukon  Basin. 

Men  who  were  blind  on  every  other  subject  saw  the  wonderful 
Alaskan  rainbow  of  promise  and  rushed  off  to  find  the  pot  of 
gold  at  its  Klondike  end  with  the  infantile  assurance  of  the  tot 
in  the  nursery  tale. 

Perhaps  the  date  of  the  placer  discovery — coming  at  the 
close  of  a  period  of  general  business  depression,  had  something 
to  do  with  the  virulence  of  the  fever.  Anyway,  a  fortnight  after 
the  news  of  the  strike  steamed  into  port  the  countr\'  was  stark, 
staring,  raving  mad.  "Klondike"  was  the  topic  at  the  lunch 
counters,  men  talked  "  outfits  "  on  the  street  cars  and  "  L  "  trains, 
women  found  themselves  abandoning  the  fashions  to  read  up  on 
routes  and  fares  to  Dawson  City,  farmers  drove  to  town  in  the 
middle  of  a  "  hay  day"  to  hear  the  latest  from  "the  diggings," 
and  technical  mining  phrases  became  the  cant  of  the  day. 

Nothing  could  head  off  the  enthusiasm  of  the  horde  of  would-be 


70  SPREAD   OF   THE   KLONDIKE   FEVER. 

miners.  They  sailed  out  of  the  Pacific  coast  ports,  crowded  Hke 
animals  in  and  upon  vessels  known  to  every  sailor  as  long  unsea- 
worthy,  and  periled  their  lives  over  the  "  Boneyard  of  the  Pacific" 
or  through  the  devious,  rock-studded,  fog-enshrouded  channels 
of  the  Sitka  route ;  they  trusted  to  captains  who  had  never  been 
out  of  sight  of  land  and  to  pilots  who  had  never  sailed  the  courses ; 
they  heard,  unmoved,  warnings  of  deadly  hardships  enroute  and 
of  probable  starvation  at  the  mines  ;  they  gave  up  good  positions 
and  spent  small  fortunes  for  transportation,  and  with  scuppers 
awash  sailed  away  in  death  traps  to  the  frozen  North. 

So  reckless  did  the  mad  stampeders  to  the  Klondike  become 
at  last  that  the  highest  public  officials  were  forced  to  take  notice 
of  the  epidemic  folly  and  try  to  head  it  off. 

Secretary  Bliss'  "Warning. 

Secretaiy  of  the  Interior  Bliss,  on  August  loth  found  it  neces- 
sary to  issue  the  following  warning,  a  state  paper  almost  without 
a  precedent  on  this  continent  : 

"  To  Whom  It  ]\Iay  Concern:  In  view  of  information  received 
at  this  department  that  3000  persons  with  2000  tons  of  baggage 
and  freight  are  now  waiting  at  the  entrance  to  White  Pass,  in 
Alaska,  for  an  opportunity  to  cross  the  mountains  to  the  Yukon 
River,  and  that  many  more  are  preparing  to  join  them,  I  deem  it 
proper  to  call  the  attention  of  all  \\\\o  contemplate  making  that 
trip  to  the  exposure,  privation,  suffering,  arfW  even  danger  inci- 
dent thereto  at  this  advanced  period  of  the  season,  even  if  they 
should  succeed  in  crossing  the  mountains.  To  reach  Dawson 
City,  when  over  the  pass,  700  miles  of  difficult  navigatioii  on  the 
Yukon  River  without  adequate  means  of  transportation  will  still 
lie  before  them,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  the  journey  can  be  com- 
pleted before  the  river  is  closed  by  ice. 

"  I  am  moved  to  draw  public  attention  to  these  conditions  by 


SPREAD    OF   THE    KLONDIKE    FEVER.  71 

the  gravity  of  the  possible  consequences  to  people  detained  in  the 
mountainous  wilderness  during  five  or  six  months  of  an  arctic 
winter,  where.no  relief  can  reach  them,  howev^er  great  the  need. 

"C.  N.  Bliss, 
"  Secretary  of  the  Interior.'* 
The  Hon.  Clifford  Sifton,  Canadian  Minister  of  the  Interior, 
had  already  issued  a  notice  to  the  public  of  the  Dominion  that 
the  government  would  not  be  responsible  for  getting  provisions 
into  the  Yukon  during  the  coming  winter  tantamount  to  warning 
the  gold  seekers  to  stay  out  till  spring. 

Mad  Rush   Goes  On. 

Yet,  in  the  face  of  all  these  official  warnings,  chronicled  and 
spread  broadcast  by  the  same  press  and  in  the  same  columns  in 
which  the  other  Klondike  news  was  daily  printed,  twenty-one 
steamers,  three  sailing  vessels  and  two  scows,  each  laden  to  the 
utmost  carrj-ing  capacity,  had  put  out  from  Pacific  coast  ports 
for  Alaska  before  the  warnings  were  a  fortnight  old. 

The  North  American  Transportation  and  Trading  Company 
repeatedly  issued  public  warnings  of  the  hazards  attending  an 
attempt  to  get  into  the  mines  during  the  remainder  of  the  season 
of  1897,  and  finally  raised  the  fare  for  the  last  trip  of  the 
steamer  Portland  to  $1000,  only  guaranteeing  to  get  passengers 
to  Dawson  City  by  way  of  St.  Michael's  by  June  15,  1898, 
Yet  the  passenger  list  was  full  of  names  of  men  who  were 
willing  to  spend  a  winter  in  the  Yukon  ice  or  on  the  cheerless 
shores  of  Norton  Sound,  even  at  that  price. 

And  those  who  could  not  muster  patience  to  go  by  that  route, 
with  Secretary'  Bliss'  warning  ringing  in  their  ears,  swarmed  at 
the  wharves  where  other  steamers  were  preparing  to  start 
with  their  herded  loads  of  self-deluded  gold-seekers,  and  paid 
$500  bonus,  where  they  coulc'  find  a  taker,  for  the  privilege  of 


72  SPREAD    OF   THE    KLONDIKE    FEVER. 

the  voyage  to  overcrowded  Dyea  or  Juneau.     They  knew  the 

Canadian  mounted  police  were  on  guard  at  the  passes  over  the 

mountains,  turning  back  all  who  had  not  a  year's  provisions  in 

their  outfits,  but  they  bid  high  for  the  chance  to  go,  just  the 

same.     They  knew  they  stood  a  chance  of  having  to  winter  at 

Juneau  or  Dyea,  and  eat  up  their  supplies,  but  they  spent  their 

last  cent  to  get  there,  just  the  same.      It  ceases  to  be  a  "  play" 

rush  for  gold  and  became  the  wild  exodus  of  a  rabble  in  which 

men  totally   unfitted  for  the  rough  work  and   hardships  of  the 

miner's    life,    and    unmindful    that   failure   would    be  the  lot    of 

hundreds,  and  that  many  would   find   graves  among   the   frozen 

placers  or  along  the  desert  trails,  joined  with  the  enthusiasm  of 

devotees. 

Said  by  P.  B.  Weare. 

"  There  is  barely  a  chanv^e  of  any  of  the  gold-seekers  getting 
across  the  divide  so  as  to  reach  the  Klondike  region  this  year,  to 
say  nothing  about  the  perils  of  the  long  trip  beyond,  but  still  the 
rush  goes  on,"  says  P.  B.  Weare,  of  the  North  American  Com- 
pany, early  in  August.  "  We  advise  the  people  now  not  to 
attempt  to  get  to  Dawson  City  this  year,  but  it  doesn't  seem  to 
be  any  use  talking.  We  hear  from  our  representatives  in  Alaska 
and  they  say  it  is  no  use  trying  to  stop  the  march — in  some 
cases  to  certain  death." 

"  They  go  on  the  theory  that  the  first  there  will  be  first 
served,"  said  John  Cuhahy  in  speaking  of  the  race  for  wealth  ; 
"  but  I  believe  some  of  the  first  to  go  now  will  be  the  fi^rst 
dead." 

Still  the  rush  to  the  harvest  of  hardship  and  death  went  on. 

Then  the  shock  of  disillusion  came,  and  it  brought  some  peo- 
ple to  their  senses.  Word  came  back  from  the  North  that  gold- 
seekers  were  making  famine  on  the  bleak  Alaska  mountains  as 
fast  as  they  knew  how.     Winter  storms  had  begun  to  obliterate 


SPREAD    OF   THE    KLONDIKE    FEVER.  73 

the  trails  and  bury  the  passes.  Old  timers  said  again  the  reck- 
less argonauts  could  not  get  through  to  the  Klondike,  and  that 
Arctic  tempests  would  cut  off  their  return  and  force  them  to  fight 
for  life  all  winter  in  famine-stricken  camps — and  this  time  the 
warning  was  heeded. 

The  object  lesson  from  Dyea  which  was  shown  to  the  world 
on  the  morning  of  August  loth  was  too  fearful  not  to  be  heeded. 

Misery  at  Dyea. 

Hal  Hoffman,  writing  from  Juneau  undei  date  of  August  3d, 
said  of  Dyea  and  Skagway,  the  ports  at  the  head  of  lynn  Canal, 
these  graphic  and  awful  words : 

"  These  are  the  last  salt  water  ports  and  the  points  of  debark- 
ation for  the  mountain  trails  and  passes.  The  number  of  Indians 
and  whites  and  packers  and  horses  is  totally  inadequate  to  move 
the  vast  quantities  of  freight  over  the  mountains,  and  a  blockade 
that  is  daily  assuming  more  formidable  proportions  has  resulted. 

"Tons  of  supplies  are  piled  high  on  the  beach,  and  they  will 
likely  remain  there  for  an  indefinite  length  of  time.  Every 
incoming  steamer  dumps  scores  of  excited  gold  seekers  and  tons 
of  freight  on  the  beach.  The  confusion  is  indescribable.  Much 
of  the  freight  is  dumped  on  a  long  sand  spit  at  Dyea  at  low  tide, 
as  there  are  no  wharfs  at  that  place.  Before  the  supplies  can  be 
sorted,  claimed,  and  removed,  the  tide  has  risen  and  ruined  or 
carried  entirely  away  large  quantities  of  supplies. 

"  By  far  the  largest  portion  of  the  supplies  must  be  packed 
over  the  passes  by  their  owners  if  they  are  packed  at  all.  Only 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  Indians,  fifty  white  men,  and  ten 
horses  are  now  packing  over  the  Dyea  trail.  It  is  good  to  be 
an  Indian  now  at  Dyea.  He  is  making  at  least  ten  dollars  a 
day.  He  lets  the  palefaces  in  search  of  gold  bid  against  each 
other  for  his  services  as  a  packer,  and  calmly  takes  up  the  burden 


74  SPREAD    OF   THE    KLONDIKE    FEVER. 

of  the  highest  bidder.  His  squaw  and  his  children  also  carrj." 
heav}^  packs  up  the  steep  mountain  trail. 

"  The  white  man  with  his  ten  horses  is  making  $ioo  per  day. 
It  is  estimated  that  there  will  be  fifty  additional  white  packers 
and  forty  more  horses  on  the  trail  in  a  week  or  ten  days,  but  on 
the  other  hand  the  rush  still  keeps  up,  and  the  end  is  not  in  sight. 
The  end  is  too  far  away  to  see.  It  is  back  in  New  York,  Chicago, 
and  San  Francisco,  and  has  not  started  yet.  Every  man  who 
has  set  foot  in  Juneau,  Dyea,  or  Stagua  has  friends  back  East 
who  are  coming. 

"  When  the  rivers  freeze  overland  travel  to  Dawson  must  stop, 
except  at  the  greatest  peril,  till  spring  smiles  again.  The  Yukon 
and  Lewis  have  been  known  to  freeze  by  the  middle  of  August, 
but  while  this  is  an  exception  it  is  more  than  a  possibility.  Unless 
an  unexpectedly  large  number  of  horses  and  packers  arrive  soon 
many  men  will  camp  on  the  route  to  the  Yukon,  and  eat  the 
supplies  in  idleness  through  the  long  winter. 

"  Many  men  are  starting  for  the  Yukon  with  inadequate  sup- 
plies and  little  money.  It  takes  gold  to  hunt  gold.  One  can 
hardly  make  a  necessary  step  on  the  journey  here  without  it 
costing  $10  for  each  step. 

Timber    Runs   Short. 

"  There  is  a  great  scramble  for  timber  at  Lake  Bennett,  with 
which  to  build  boats.  A  little  saw  mill  there  is  capable  of  an 
output  of  800  feet  of  lumber  per  day.  Ten  dollars  per  hundred 
was  first  asked,  and  now  twenty  dollars  for  lumber.  The  whip- 
saw  of  gold-seekers  is  heard  throughout  the  woods.  Owing  to 
the  great  rush  there  must  be  more  delay  at  the  lakes. 

"  Prospectors  in  the  Valley  of  Yukon  have  returned  here  from 
Dyea,  and  will  wait  till  spring  before  attempting  to  make  the 
Klondike.      But  not  so  the  tenderfoot.      He  is  swarmine  for  the 


SPREAD  OF  THE'  KLONDIKE  FEVER. 


75 


summit  in  many  instances  with  an  outfit  unsuitable  in  kind  and 
quantity.  He  is  leaving  here  every  day  with  pretty  red,  frail 
two-wheeled  carts  and  wheelbarrows,  piled  high  with  much  super- 
fluous baggage  which  he  cannot  hop'e  to  push  over  the  mountain 
trails. 

"  His   vehicle  will   smash,  and  his   supplies  scatter  and  break 
before  he  is  out  three  hours  from   Dyea.      But  you  can't  make 


NATIVES    OF    ALASKA    BUILDING    HOUSES. 


him  believe  it.  lie  is  so  excited  he  can't  or  won't  listen  to 
reason.  His  one  idea  is  gold  and  he  is  going  after  it  with  sacks 
and  carts  to  bring  it  back  in.  As  these  outfits  pass  through  the 
streets  from  wharf  to  wharf  old  prospectors  laugh. 

"  It  looks  as  though  the  Canadian  customs  officials  will  liavc 
an  opportunity  to  report  back  to  their  government  that  they  arc 
unable  to  collect  customs  duties  without  reinforcements. 


76  SPREAD   OF   THE   KLONDIKE   FEVER. 

"All  the  incoming  gold  hunters  are  incensed  at  the  action  of 
the  Canadian  authorities,  at  Ottawa,  in  levying  a  duty  on  supplies 
they  are  taking  into  the  mines.  The  rougher  element  among 
them  is  intemperate  in  its  language,  and  has  made  threats  to 
ignore  the  customs  officials,  peaceably  if  possible,  but  forcibly  if 
necessary. 

"  The  general  prospect,  as  viewed  from  the  border  of  the  land 
of  gold  at  this  lime,  is  that  the  route  to  the  Yukon  will  be  strewn 
with  bones  as  well  as  blasted  hopes. 

Hurts  Alaska  Industries. 

"  The  Klondike  craze  is  having  a  disastrous  effect  on  the 
industries  of  Alaska.  The  great  salmoa  cannery  at  Chilkat  has 
been  compelled  to  close  down  from  lack  of  fishermen  in  the 
middle  of  a  very  fine  season.  Nearly  every  white  man  in  the 
cannery  deserted  and  started  for  Dawson  City.  Manager  Mur- 
ray tried  to  get  men  to  take  the  vacant  places,  but  soon  gave  up 
the  attempt. 

"  Men  are  insulted  now  when  asked  to  work  for  a  cannery. 

"  The  Klondike  fever  is  at  a  very  high  pitch  in  Alaska,  as  well 
as  elsewhere.  The  Chilkat  cannery  is  controlled  by  the  Alaska 
Packers'  Association,  which  operates  nearly  all  the  canneries  on 
the  coast.  Employes  are  leaving  the  canneries  for  the  Klondike. 
The  probability  is  that  work  at  nearly  all  of  them  will  be  aband- 
oned soon,  owing  principally  to  a  lack  of  fishermen. 

"At  Douglas  City,  across  the  channel,  about  fifty  men  have 
given  notice  to  quit  work  next  pay  day.  They  are  employed  in 
the  big  Treadwell  Gold  Mine  and  Mills.  Others  are  leaving 
without  notice  and  heading  for  Klondilce.  Every  shift  one  or 
more  man  are  missed.  It  is  feared  that  so  many  desert  that  the 
mines  and  mills  cannot  be  worked. 

"  The  fever  has  also  seized  the  men  in  the  mines  and  stamp 


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SPREAD   OF   THE    KLONDIKE   FEVER.  77 

mills  at  Berner  Bay.  A  large  number  have  thrown  up  their  jobs 
there  and  started  for  the  Klondike." 

Could  anything  better  express  the  utter  folly  of  some  of  the 
gold-seekers,  who  were  probably  types  of  a  large  class,  than 
this,  clipped  from  a  letter  written  from  Dyea  ? 

"  Such  is  the  innocence  of  some  of  the  '  tenderfoot '  prospec- 
tors that  they  have  taken  bicycles  to  Dyea.  They  have  found 
the  park  commissioners  neglected  to  boulevard  the  trail  to  Daw- 
son and  the  bicycles  being,  even  in  an  extremity,  unfit  for  food, 
are  now  very  cheap." 

One  of  the  possible  and  much-feared  episodes  in  the  Klon- 
dike sensation  may  yet  add  a  bloody  page  to  the  histor>^  of 
North  Pacific  navigation,  and  cause  to  be  re-enacted  in  American 
waters  some  of  the  fierce  buccaneering  scenes  of  the  Straits  Settle- 
ments on  the  Spanish  Main. 

Chinese  Pirate  Scare. 

Word  was  received  early  in  August  by  the  officials  of  the 
North  American  Transportation  and  Trading  Company  that  a 
band  of  Chinese  pirates  had  been  organized  for  the  express  pur- 
pose of  intercepting  and  looting  the  steamer  Portland  on  its  last 
trip  down  from  St.  Michael's  in  October,  1897.  It  was  known 
that  a  large  number  of  Klondike  miners  intended  to  come  out  in 
the  Portland,  bringing  their  dust  with  them,  and  the  last  com- 
pany shipment  of  gold  would  also  be  brought  down  on  the  same 
boat.  Altogether,  it  had  been  reported,  about  $2,000,000  of 
yellow  treasure  would  be  aboard,  and  the  company  officials  were 
informed  a  pirate  crew  recruited  from  the  Highbinders  in  the 
Chinese  slums  of  San  Francisco,  aided  by  a  few  renegade  white 
men,  would  lie  in  wait  to  loot  and  destroy  the  treasure  ship  and 
murder  its  crew  and  passengers  at  some  point  between  St. 
Michael's  and   Dutch  Harbor. 


78  SPREAD    OF   THE    KLONDIKE    FEVER. 

P.  B.  Weare,  of  the  company,  communicated  his  fears  to 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  Gage,  and  the  latter  at  once  ordered 
Commander  Hooper,  of  the  Revenue  Service,  to  send  a  cutter  to 
convoy  the  treasure  ship  safely  into  the  Pacific. 

The  Portland  is  a  staunch  vessel,  well  armed  and  carries  a 
good  crew,  and  when  aided  by  the  fighting  tars  of  the  Bear  or 
Rush,  is  expected  to  not  only  come  through  safely  but  to  give  the 
Mongolian  marauders  a  hot  reception  if  they  venture  out. 

Craze  Is  Epidemic. 

Another  effect  of  the  Klondike  fever  was  to  cause  a  similar 
malady  of  strictly  local  extent  to  break  out  in  a  dozen  places 
which  had  not  had  a  case  of  genuine  gold  fever  in  years. 

California  promptly  "saw"  the  Klondike  and  "went  it  one 
better"  with  some  remarkable  strikes  in  the  Trinity  County 
placers.  The  largest  nugget  reported  was  said  to  be  worth 
$42,000,  and  weight  2400  ounces.  Little  Rock,  Arkansas, 
went  wild  over  the  reputed  rediscovery  of  some  old  Spanish 
mines  in  the  neighborhood.  Nevada  got  a  latter-day  Washoe 
shock  in  an  old  mine  in  Elko  County.  The  Kootenai  and  Cari- 
boo districts  suddenly  discovered  that  they  contained  mineral 
enough  to  warrant  a  population  of  100,000  in  a  few  years,  and 
hearalded  the  fact  to  the  world.  Colorado  got  up  a  boom  over 
some  sylvanite  quartz  at  Silver  Cliff,  an  old  camp.  Rat  Port- 
age, Ontario,  suffered  a  depopulating  exodus  over  some  reported 
rich  finds  in  the  Rainy  Lake  and  Seine  River  country.  Dead- 
wood  put  in  a  claim  to  notice  by  announcing  a  new  lead  in 
Ragged  Top,  which  assayed  $1048  a  ton  in  gold.  Altoona, 
Pennsylvania,  temporarily  forgot  the  coal  rumpus  while  it  dis- 
covered gold  ore  going  $62'^  a  ton  on  Tussey  Mountains. 
Elizabethtown,  Kentucky,  got  up  a  little  excitement  over  a  gilt 
bottomed  farm   near  Summit.      Columbia,   Missouri,  ran   across 


SPREAD    OF   THE    KLONDIKE    FEVER.  79 

a  lot  of  gold  in  the  banks  of  Dry  Creek.  Ashland  and  Mari- 
nette, Wisconsin,  came  in  neck  and  neck  with  stories  of  gold 
discoveries.  Marquette,  Michigan,  found  it  was  roosting  on  top 
of  a  gold  lead  forty  feet  wide  and  hadn't  suspected  it  before. 
Peru  came  to  the  front  with  a  revival  of  the  famous  mines  of  the 
Incas.  Mexico  owned  up  to  having  gold  in  the  Yaqui  country. 
Russia  declared  there  were  fabulously  rich  new  mines  in 
Okhotsk,  just  across  from  Alaska.  And  China  came  in  late  in 
the  game  and  announced  the  biggest  find  of  all. 

It  mattered  not  that  the  Missouri  gold  was  pronounced  pyrites 
and  some  of  the  other  "discoveries"  mere  stock  jobbing 
schemes — it  showed  how  the  fever  spread. 

About  Bogus   Stock   Companies. 

A  word  to  the  people  who  did  not  catch  the  stampede  craze 
hafd  enough  to  get  them  out  of  the  country,  but  who  are  left 
behind  with  the  "  Alaska  Mining  and  Klondike  Development 
Stock  Companies  :  " 

The  man  who  goes  in  person  to  the  Klondike  takes  great  risks, 
but  his  success  or  failure  will  depend  largely  on  himself  in  the 
long  run.  At  any  rate,  he  knows  what  he  is  staking  on  the 
issue.  But  the  man  who  would  stay  at  home  and  still  be  a 
Klondiker  has  to  reckon  not  only  with  nature,  but  with  rascals. 

There  will  be  stock  companies  innumerable,  organized  ostensi- 
bly to  exploit  the  Northwest.  Som.e  will  do  it.  They  will  be 
directed  by  men  who  will  set  honestly  about  the  business  of  trade 
and  transportation  and  mining,  who  will  handle  honestly  the 
funds  intrusted  to  them,  and  who,  by  enterprise  and  square 
dealing,  will  make  dividends  for  the  stockholders. 

There  will  be  other  companies  organized  to  exploit  the  pockets 
of  the  people  at  home.  They  will  not  move  a  boat,  they  will 
not  grub-stake  a  miner,  they  will  not  sell  a  shovel,  a  pick,  or  a 


80  SPREAb    OF   THE    KLOxNDlKP:    FEVER. 

pan.  Their  directors  will  get  money  from  the  unsuspecting  and 
use  it  for  their  own  purposes.  If  the  boom  holds  out  and  grows 
to  sufficient  size  they  will  play  the  part  of  the  adventurers  who 
turned  the  city  of  Panama  into  a  modern  Babylon  with  the  money 
contributed  by  the  people  of  France. 

In  short,  sending  capital  into  the  Klondike  will  be  even  more 
precarious  than  going  yourself,  for  the  risks  of  nature  will  be 
added  to  the  risk  of  man's  rascality. 

Yet  capital  is  needed  in  the  Klondike,  and  those  who  send  it 
there  under  the  proper  sort  of  management  will  make  legitimate 
■orofits,  and  possibly  big  ones. 


CHAPTER  III. 
"Strike  it   Rich"  on  Klondike. 

Gold-seekers  who  "  Made  tbeir  Pile  "  in  the  Placers — Tales  Brought  Back 
by  Returning  Argonauts — Fabulous-  Stakes  made  by  Novices — The 
"Tenderfoot"  Has  His  Day — Clarence  J.  Berry,  the  "  Barney  Barnato  " 
of  the  Diggings— His  Wonderful  Streak  of  Luck — Gives  the  Credit  to 
His  Wife — Captain  McGregor's  Wonderful  Panning  Results — Fortune 
Favors  an  Indiana  Boy — Some  of  the  Dark  Sides,  by  People  who  Saw 
Them — Miners  Go  Insane— Death  on  the  Glacier — Hard  Work  and  Lack 
of  Supplies — Advice  of  a  California  Pioneer. 

THAT  men,  even  a  few,  have  "struck  it  rich"  and  "made 
their  pile "  on  the  Klondike,  or  anywhere  else  on  the 
Upper  Yukon,  has  put  the  whole  question  of  gold  pros- 
pects in  Alaska  beyond  cavil  or  doubt  with  the  masses,  for  the 
coming  close  season  at  least.  Much  good  advice  will  be  given 
— and  wasted — before  the  ice  moves  in  1898  in  the  upper  chan- 
nels in  the  Alaskan  rivers,  but  not  a  word  of  it,  nor  all  of  it 
together  will  be  potent  to  overcome  the  attraction  there  is  in  the 
list  of  those  who  have  washed  fortunes  out  of  the  frozen  Klon- 
dike gravel. 

That  tons  and  more  of  new  gold,  a  million  and  three-quarters 
of  dust  and  nuggets,  that  the  Portland  brought  in  July,  and  the 
inen  who  had  "struck  it"  who  came  with  her,  and  the  stories 
they  told  of  other  lucky  ones  who  were  still  washing  away  at 
the  auriferous  soil — these  things  settled  it.  Alaska  is  Eldorado 
and  the  cry  is  "  Klondike  or  Bust." 

It  seemed  strange  as  the  passengers  landed  from  the  Portland 
to  gaze  upon  a  small  satchel  tightly  grasped  in  a  brown  hand, 
and  realize  that  it  contained  probably  over  $10,000,  the  reward 
of  untold  hardship.  The  blanket  securely  strapped  and  the 
leather  gripsack  seemed  favorite  packages  for  the  yellow  metal. 
6  81 


82  STRIKE    IT   RICH    ON   KLONDIKE. 

This  time  of  '97,  unlike  all  other  times,  Fortune  played  no 
favorites.  1897  on  the  Klondike  was  the  "  tenderfoot's  "  year 
for  gold.  The  inexperienced  men  have  been  the  lucky  ones, 
individuals  in  several  instances  taking  out  approximately  $150,- 
000  in  two  months  and  a  half,  while  the  old  miners,  after 
spending  years  and  suffering  hardships  and  privations  innumer- 
able in  the  far  Northwest,  had  only  a  few  thousands  to  show  for 
all  their  pains  and  perils. 

Clarence   Berry's  Strike. 

Clarence  J.  Berr}%  of  Fresno,  California,  was  one  of  the  luckiest 
of  the  "  tcnderfeet ;  "  in  fact,  his  strike  was  a  proverb  in  the 
entire  region,  and  he  is  known  among  the  Yukoners  as  "  the 
luckiest  man  on  the  Klondike,"  and  the  "  Barney  Barnato  of  the 
Klondike,"  though  he  is  unlike  the  South  African  Crcesus  in  all 
but  luck.  A  few  years  ago,  Berry  said,  he  did  not  have  enough 
to  pay  house  rent,  and  did  not  dare  ask  Ethel.  Bush,  of  Fresno, 
to  share  his  poverty.  But  he  brought  back  from  the  Klondike, 
on  the  Portland,  $  1  30,000  in  gold  nuggets,  and  the  prettiest  wife 
in  the  territory'  and  a  helpmeet,  too,  for  Mrs.  Ethel  Berry,  nee 
Bush,  didn't  begin  the  honeymoon  under  the  midnight  sun  by 
asking  her  husband  for  pin-money.  Not  she.  She  just  took  a 
pan  and  washed  out  $10,000  or  so  on  her  own  account. 

Clarence  Berry  was  described  by  Mrs.  Eli  Gage,  who  was  a 
passenger  with  him  and  his  wife  on  the  Portland,  as  being  **  the 
most  modest  millionaire,"  she  ever  saw.  But  he  was  wiUing  to. 
talk  Klondike  after  he  had  turned  his  dust  and  nuggets  over  to 
Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.,  at  Seattle,  on  July  17th. 

"  Yes,  I  am  a  rich  man,"  said  he,  "  but  I  don't  realize  it.  My 
wife  and  little  ones  will,  though.  I  took  out  my  gold  last  win- 
ter in  box  lengths  twelve  by  fifteen,  and  in  one  length  I  found 
the  sum  of  $10,000.     The  second  largest  nugget  ever  found  ip 


STRIKE   IT   RICH   ON  KLONDIKE.  83 

Alaska  was  taken  out  of  my  claim.  It  weighed  thirteen  ounces 
and  is  worth  $230.  Why,  I  have  known  men  to  takeout  $1000 
from  a  drift  claim,  and  some  have  taken  out  several  thousand. 
This  gold  was  found  in  pockets,  and  it  is  not  an  ordinary  thing 
to  make  such  marvelous  finds. 

"  Yes,  there  is  plenty  more  of  gold  there.  I  expect  to  take 
many  more  thousands  from  my  claim  ;  others  on  this  boat  expect 
to  do  the  same.  Those  who  have  good  claims  will  undoubtedly 
be  millionaires  in  a  few  years.  The  gold  will  not  give  out  for  a 
long  time.  There  is  room  for  more  miners  in  Alaska,  but  they 
must  be  strong  men,  must  have  money,  and  should  know  about 
mining.  The  hardships  are  many.  Some  will  fail  to  make  for- 
tunes, where  a  few  are  successful.  A  man  may  have  to  prospect 
for  many  years  before  he  finds  a  good  claim.  That  means  tljat 
he  needs  money  and  strength  to  help  him  along ;  but  if  he  sticks 
to  it  he  will  come  out  all  right." 

Captain   McGregor's  Big    Pans. 

Captain  John  G.  McGregor,  of  Minneapolis,  I\Iinn.,  a  placer 
miner  for  thirty  years,  and  one  of  the  pioneers  at  Confederate 
Gulch,  Montana,  has  been  in  the  Klondike  a  year.  In  August 
he  wrote  home  that  his  men  were  washing  gravel  that  occasion- 
ally goes  ;$3000  to  the  pan,  and  that  $1000  is  common.  He 
has  several  miners  working  for  him,  and  expects  to  bring  out  as 
his  own  profits  next  June  not  less  than  $1,200,000. 

Frank  Phiscator,  of  Gallon,  Indiana,  came  in  on  the  Portland 
with  $50,000,  which  he  washed  out  in  forty  days.  He  left 
Indiana  a  year  before  for  the  Pacific  Slope  to  begin  life  anew, 
having  failed  in  the  fruit  business.  He  had  never  heard  of  the 
Alaska  gold  mines  until  he  reached  Seattle,  which  place  he 
reached  "  broke."  He  was  grub-staked  by  a  friend  who  went 
through  from  Michigan  with  him,  and  together  they  started  for 


84  STRIKE   IT   RICH   ON   KLONDIKE. 

the  new  Eldorado.  For  day.s  after  they  left  Circle  City  they 
were  lost  in  a  blinding  .storm,  and  for  three  days  found  refuge  in 
a  hole  in  the  hardened  snow.  They  reached  the  Klondike  in  the 
dead  of  winter,  and  when  the  weather  moderated  they  were  pre- 
pared for  business.  In  forty  days  they  sluiced  and  washed  out 
$125,000  of  gold,  of  v.diich  Frank  received  as  his  share  $50,000. 

William  Stalley  and  C.  Worden  were  Phiscator's  companions, 
and  they  divided  $75,000  between  them. 

William  Sloane,  a  merchant  of  Nanaimo,  B.  C,  went  North 
for  pleasure  one  year  ago.  He  had  no  money.  A  friend  in- 
duced him  to  go  to  Klondike.  He  came  back  Avith  $52,000, 
the  amount  he  received  for  his  claim.  He  says  he  will  not  re- 
turn, but  advises  others  who  want  gold  to  go. 

Dougal   M'Arthur's  Romance. 

Younp-  Doueral  M'Arthur  came  down  from  Klondike  with 
$25,000  in  dust  and  a  story  no  one  could  doubt.      He  said  : 

"  I  left  the  good  old  countr)'  when  a  mere  boy,  determined,  if 
possible,  to  carve  out  a  fortune  for  myself  Coming  to  America 
I  drifted  from  place  to  place  with  varying  success  and  finally,  six 
years  ago,  determined  to  try  my  luck  in  Alaska.  It  was  hard 
working  at  first,  but  I  soon  got  used  to  it,  and  I  determined  to 
stay  there  until  I  struck  something  that  would  pay  me  for  my 
trouble. 

"  At  Forty-mile  camp  I  made  some  money  and  then  I  drifted 
over  to  Circle  City.  There  I  did  not  do  so  well,  but  I  kept  peg- 
ging away,  believing  like  Micawber,  that  something  would  turn 
up  after  a  bit.  Well,  last  fall  came  the  news  of  a  tremendously 
rich  strike  on  the  Klondike.  We — that  is,  ni}-  partner,  Neal 
McArthur  and  myself — pulled  up  stakes  and  started  for  the  new 
discovery.  Neal  went  ahead  and  was  fortunate  in  locating  a 
good  claim.      j\Iy  part  of  the  work  consisted  in  hauling  our  pro- 


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STRIKE   IT   RICH    ON    KLONDIKE. 


85 


visions  and  camping  outfit  over  the  snow  and  ice  to  the  new 
location.  I  was  compelled  to  make  two  trips,  and  it  was  the 
hardest  work  I  ever  did -in  my  life. 

"  I  reached  Dawson  City  finally  just  two  days  before  Christ- 
mas. Neal  had  prospected  the  claim  and  found  it  rich  beyond 
our  fondest   anticipations.      Before   we  could  begin   work  there 


SCENE    NEAR    DAWSON    CITY. 

was  an  offer  to  buy  it  and  we  sold  out  for  $50,000.  It  was  a 
lucky  turn  of  the  wheel  of  fortune  for  us.  Without  practically 
a  stroke  we  cleaned  up  ^25,000  apiece. 

"  Now  we  are  going  home  to  see  our  people.  My  own  folks 
have  not  heard  from  me  in  a  long  time,  and  maybe  they  think  I 
am  dead.     It  will  be  a  joyful  home-coming  for  all." 


86  STRIKE    IT   RICH   ON   KLONDIKE. 

Among  the  first  people  to  come  back  to  civilization  were  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Lipton,  who,  though  they  had  been  at  the  diggings 
only  since  April,  1896,  returned  with^  $60,000.  Mo.st  of  the 
party  were  "  tendcrfeet,"  and  had  spent  but  one  season  at  the 
mines,  yet  some  of  them  had  taken  out  from  $10,000  to  $25,000 
in  a  few  weeks.  In  the  nine  miles  advance  up  the  Klondike,  it 
is  said,  there  are  several  mines  that  will  yield  over  $1,000,000, 
one  piece  of  ground  on  the  Eldorado,  forty-five  feet  wide,  having 
yielded  $90,000.  The  Berry  claim  has  produced  $145,000  in  a 
few  months,  and  there  is  a  pile  of  gravel  on  the  dump,  ready  to 
be  washed  as  soon  as  sufificient  water  can  be  obtained,  which 
contains  as  much  more. 

Sample*"  Piles  "  on  the  Portland. 

Among  the  passengers  on  the  Portland,  July  17th,  Clarence 
Berr}',  Frank  Phiscator,  and  Frank  A.  Kellar,  of  Los  Angeles, 
each  had  from  $35,000  to  $100,000.  Henry  Anderson  and  Jack 
Morden,  of  Chicago  ;  William  Stanley,  of  Seattle  ;  and  R.  Mc- 
Nulty  and  N.  E.  Pickett,  each  had  at  least  $20,000.  M.  Mercer, 
J.  J.  Hillerman,  and  J.  Moran,  had  each  from  $12,000  to  $15,000. 
The  average  pile  of  dust  on  board  the  Portland  was  probably 
$12,000,  and  these  people,  the  captain  said,  are  only  a  handful. 

Michael  Hickey,  of  Great  Barrington,  Mass.,  brought  down 
$60,000,  which  he  had  taken  from  Klondike  placers  in  the  last 
eighteen  months.  Hickey  is  a  widower.  He  left  Great  Barring- 
ton  for  Alaska  in  the  spring  of  1 896.  In  his  letters  home  he 
has  not  complained  about  the  hardships  he  has  met.  He  spent 
the  winter  of  1896-97  in  the  gold  regions. 

William  Stanley,  of  Seattle,  "struck  it"  rich.  He  came  down 
with  $90,000.  His  two  sons  are  in  the  Klondike,  looking  after 
their  claims,  out  of  which  they  hope  to  make  at  least  $300,000. 

Henry  Anderson,   a  native  of  Sweden,  had  no  money  when 


STRIKE   IT   RICH   ON   KLONDIKE.  87 

he  left  Seattle  two  years  ago.     Now  he  has  $45,000  and  states 
that  he  received  it  for  a  half  interest  in  his  claim. 

Pack  Home,  a  pugilist  who  use  to  work  for  variety  theatres 
on  Puget  Sound  for  ten  dollars  per  week,  displayed  $6000,  the 
result  of  a  year's  work. 

T.  J.  Kelly  and  son,  of  Tacoma,  went  north  in  the  fall  of 
1896.  The  father  brought  back  $10,000  and  the  son  is  holding 
the  claim. 

Gold    Breaks  the  Gripsack. 

John  Wilkinson,  a  passenger  on  the  Portland,  had  his  gold  in 
a  leather  gripsack,  and  in  carrying  it  out  of  the  social  hall  of  the 
steamer,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  had  three  straps  around  the 
bag,  the  main  handle  piece  broke,  and  he  had  to  secure  a  broader 
strap  before  he  could  carry  his  treasure  ashore. 

Henry  Anderson,  another  passenger,  refused  to  talk,  hurrj-ing 
aft  to  get  away,  but  it  was  said  by  his  companions  that  he 
brought  down  $65,000,  and  that  he  had  a  claim  like  a  river 
of  gold.  He  sold  out  a  half  interest  for  $45,000  cash.  In 
six  hours'   shoveling  he  secured    1025    ounces  from  his  claim. 

Thomas  Moran,  of  Montreal,  brought  out  as  the  proceeds 
of  five  years'  work  $20,000,  and  still  has  interests  in  several 
claims.  ]\Ioran  will  go  back.  Victor  Lord,  an  old  Olympia 
logging  man,  brought  out  $io,ooo'  after  four  years  on  various, 
parts  of  the  Yukon.  He  owns  a  half  interest  in  two  claims,  and 
will  return  in  the  spring.  M.  N.  Murcier,  of  Shelton,  Mason  & 
Co.,  came  out  with  about  $160,000. 

Among  the  passengers  via  the  Portland  were  Fred.  Price, 
Aueust  Galbraith,  L.  B.  Rhoads,  Thomas  Cook  and  Alexander 
Orr.  Each  one  had  from  $5000  to  $12,000.  Joseph  Ladue, 
the  owner  of  the  townsite  of  Dawson  Cit}',  was  also  aboard. 
Land  is  selling  there,  he  reported,  at  $5000  a  lot. 

Fred.  Price,  who  brought  out  a  snug  fortune,  said  :  "  I  was 


88  STRIKE    IT   RICH    ON    KLONDIKE. 

located  on  the  Bonanza  with  Harry  McCullough,  my  partner.  I 
brought  down  ;$  5000  in  gold  dust  and  made  $20,000,  which  is 
invested  in  more  ground.  There  were  good  stakes  on  the  boat 
coming  down — from  $5000  to  $40,000  among  the  boys.  I 
refused  $25,000  for  my  interest  before  I  left.  My  partner 
remains,  and  I  shall  return  in  the  spring  after  seeing  my  family  , 
in  Seattle.  I  was  in  the  mines  for  two  years.  One  can't  realize 
the  wealth  of  that  creek.  There  are  four  miles  of  claims  on  the 
Eldorado,  and  the  poorest  is  worth  $50,000.  The  Bonanza 
claims  run  for  ten  miles,  and  range  from  $5000  to  $90,000." 

August  Galbraith  said  :  "  The  development  of  Alaska  has 
only  just  begun.  If  I  were  not  an  old  man,  I  would  have 
remained  where  I  was.  There  is  no  doubt  in  my  mind  that  all 
of  the  country  for  hundreds  of  miles  around  Dawson  is  rich  in 
gold.  It  is  the  best  place  that  I  know  of  for  a  poor  man  to  go. 
If  a  man  has  $500  when  he  starts,  well  and  good,  for  it  may  be 
useful  if  he  should  not  be  fortunate  the  first  season." 

Rock  Lined  "With   Gold. 

L.  B.  Rhoads  said:  "I  am  located  on  Claim  21,  above  the 
discovery  on  Bonanza  Creek.  I  did  exceedingly  well  up  there. 
I  was  among  the  fortunate  ones,  as  I  cleared  about  $40,000,  bui 
brought  only  $5000  with  me.  I  was  the  first  man  to  get  to 
bedrock  gravel  and  to  discover  that  it  was  lined  with  gold  dust 
and  nuggets.  The  rock  was  seamed  and  cut  in  V-shaped 
streaks,  caused,  it  is  supposed,  by  glacial  action. 

"  In  those  seams  I  found  a  clay  which  was  exceedingly  rich. 
There  was  a  stratum  of  pay  gravel  four  feet  thick  upon  the  rock, 
which  was  lined  with  gold,  particularly  in  these  channels  or 
streaks.     The  rock  was  about  sixteen  feet  from  the  surface." 

Alexander  Orr,  who  brought  out  $12,000  in  dust,  said:  "  In 
winter  the  weather  is  extremely  cold  at  Dawson,  and  it  is  neces- 


STRIKE    IT   RICH    ON    KLONDIKE.  89 

sary  that  one  be  warmly  clad.  The  thermometer  often  goes 
sixty  or  seventy  degrees  below  zero.  Ordinary  woolen  clothes 
would  afford  little  protection.  Furs  are  used  exclusively  for 
clothing.  Dawson  is  not  like  most  of  the  large  mining  camps. 
It  is  not  a  "  tough  "  town.  Murders  arc  almost  unknown.  A 
great  deal  of  gambling  is  done  in  the  town,  but  serious  quarrels 
are  an  exception.  Stud  poker  is  the  usual  game.  They  play 
$1  ante  and  oftentimes  $200  or  $500  on  the  third  card." 

Thomas  Cook  expressed  himself  as  follows  :  "  It's  a  good 
countr>%  but  if  there  is  a  rush,  there  is  going  to  be  a  great  deal 
of  suffering.  Over  2000  men  are  there  at  present,  and  2000 
more  will  be  in  before  the  snow  falls.  I  advise  people  to  take 
provisions  enough  for  eight  months  at  least.  If  they  have  that, 
it  is  all  right.  The  country  is  not  exaggerated  at  all.  The 
mines  at  Dawson  are  more  extensive  and  beyond  anything  I 
ever  saw." 

William  Sloan,  of  Nanaimo,  B.  C,  sold  his  claim  for  $52,000 
and  came  home  to  stay.  A  man  named  Wilkenson,  of  the  same 
place,  had  $40,000. 

The  smallest  sack  of  gold  among  the  Yukoners  aboard  the 
Portland  on  July  17th  was  $3000.  It  belonged  to  C.  A. 
Branan,  of  Seattle,  a  youth  of  eigliteen  years. 

Over  $100,000  for  a  Boy. 

The  richest  strike  was  made  by  a  twenty-one-year-old  boy 
named  George  Hornblower,  of  Indianapolis.  In  the  heart  of  a 
barren  waste  known  as  Boulder  Field  he  found  a  nugget  for 
which  the  transportation  company  gave  him  $5700.  He  located 
his  claim  at  the  find  and  in  four  months  had  taken  out  over 
$100,000. 

Henry  Lamprecht  wrote  from  the  Klondike  to  say  that  there 
are  miles  of  rich  pay  dirt   all  through  the   region.     Men  have 


90  STRIKE    IT   RICH    OX    KLONDIKE. 

taken  a  tub  of  water  into  their  cabin  and  with  a  pan  "  panned 
out "  $2000  in  less  than  a  day.  This  is  said  to  be  equal  to 
about  540,000  a  day  in  the  summer  with  sluice  boxes.  They 
get  from  $10  to  $100  a  pan  average  and  a  choice  or  picked  pan 
as  high  as  5250,  and  it  takes  about  thirty  minutes  to  wash  a  pan 
of  dirt. 

Three  hundred  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  gold  from  the 
Klondike  found  its  way  to  Minnesota  in  the  possession  of  Peter 
Olafson  and  Charles  Erickson,  two  Scandinavians,  who  returned 
to  Two  Harbors  after  putting  in  fiv^e  years  in  Alaska. 

A  little  over  five  years  ago  the  two  men,  aged  twenty-seven 
and  thirty  years,  respectively,  were  employed  in  the  blacksmith 
shops  of  the  Duluth  and  Iron  Range  Railroad  at  Two  Harbors. 
They  heard  of  the  gold  fields  in  Alaska  and  decided  to  go  there 
and  seek  a  fortune.  For  three  years  they  labored  in  vain,  but 
two  years  ago  they  discovered  a  rich  placer  bed  on  the  Stewart 
River,  and  later  located  claims  on  the  Klondike.  In  the  two 
years  they  say  they  cleaned  up  ^  150,000  each. 

A  new  mint  record  for  one  day's  receipts  at  the  San  Francisco 
Mint  was  made  August  3d,  when  53. 77 5. 000  in  gold  was 
deposited  at  the  branch  mint  for  coinage.  This  represented  the 
accumulation  of  six  weeks.  Three-quarters  of  a  million  of  this 
was  owned  by  the  Alaska  Commercial  Company  and  was  mainly 
from  the  Klondike.  A  large  portion  of  the  balance  was  also 
from  the  rich  northern  placers,  and  was  deposited  by  various 
miners  and  smelting  companies  to  whom  it  had  been  sold.  This 
is  said  to  be  the  largest  sum  deposited  at  a  mint  in  a  single  day. 

Allan  McLeod's  Big  Stake. 

Allan  McLeod,  of  Perth,  Scotland,  came  back  with  592,500. 
His  hands  and  feet  were  tied  up  in  bandages,  and  his  clothing 
was  ragged   and   dirty  as  a  result  of  a  long  sojourn  in  Alaska. 


STRIKE    IT   RICH   ON   KLONDIKE.  91 

He  looked  anything  but  prosperous,  yet  in  his  pocket  reposed  a 
draft  for  $92,500,  and  an  attendant  took  care  of  a  deer  hide  sack 
heavy  with  gold  nuggets. 

]\Ir.  McLeod  is  a  baker  by  trade,  a  restaurant  cook  and  pro- 
prietor by  circumstance,  a  gold  miner  by  accident  and  a  rich 
man  by  luck.  Inflammatory  rheumatism,  contracted  in  the  gold 
fields,  made  a  temporary  cripple  of  him  and  rendered  his  journey 
painful,  yet  he  had  a  light  heart  as  he  pictured  the  surprise  he 
would  give  his  old  friends  in  Scotland  when  he  landed  with  his 
treasure. 

Sold  Out  For  $5,000. 

"I  went  to  Alaska  early  last  summer,"  said  Mr.  McLeod, 
■'  with  a  crowd  of  miners  who  came  up  the  Sound  from  San 
Francisco.  I  was  out  of  money  and  work,  or  I  doubt  whether 
I  would  have  accepted  the  offer  they  made  mc  to  go  along  as 
cook.  We  reached  Cook's  Inlet  June  20th,  and  things  looked  so 
discouraging  we  went  back  to  Juneau.  There  we  bought  sup- 
plies and  started  for  Dawson  City,  750  miles  away.  We  camped 
there,  and  I  did  the  cooking  for  the  boys.  They  did  very  well, 
but  the  gold  fever  took  them  farther  east,  and  I  remained  to  cook 
for  another  gang  of  miners.  I  made  good  wages,  and  finally 
had  enough  to  start  a  restaurant.  In  two  weeks  I  sold  the  place 
for  $5000,  and  went  placer  mining  with  a  half-breed  for  a 
partner. 

"  We  had  good  luck  from  the  start,  and  I  would  have  remained 
but  for  a  severe  attack  of  inflammatory^  rheumatism.  It  would 
have  killed  me  but  for  the  nursing  of  my  partner.  He  carried 
me  most  of  the  way  to  Juneau,  where  I  got  passage  on  a  fishino- 
schooner  to  'Frisco.  I  am  satisfied  with  what  I've  got  in  money, 
and  hope  to  get  rid  of  my  rheumatism  before  long.  Great  for- 
tunes are  being  found  by  many  men,  and  no  one  knows  the  ex- 
tent of  the  gold  fields  that  are  constantly  developing." 


92  STRIKE   IT   RICH   ON   KLONDIKE. 

A  San  Francisco  paper,  under  date  of  July  23d,  prints  the  fol- 
lowing ; 

"  Five  French  Canadians  who  were  successful  on  the  Klon- 
dike, and  are  now  bound  for  Montreal,  are  at  the  Commercial 
Hotel  in  this  city.  They  came  from  Seattle,  having  reached  that 
city  by  the  steamer  Portland.  They  could  not  get  the  prices  for 
their  nuggets  that  they  wanted  there,  nor  will  they  accept  the  bid 
made  by  the  Selby  smelting  works  in  this  city.  As  the  San 
Francisco  mint  is  closed  pending  the  change  of  administration, 
these  five  miners  will  carry  their  bulhon  to  Philadelphia  and  ex- 
change it  there  for  coin  of  the  United  States." 

J.  O.  Hestwood  Sees  Millions. 

J.  O.  Hestwood,  of  Seattle,  is  a  typical  returned  Argonaut. 
He  is  a  small  man,  weighing  not  over  140  pounds,  and  has  light 
blue  eyes,  clear  skin  and  a  firm  square  jaw.  He  has  been  a 
preacher,  teacher  and  lecturer,  having  delivered  lectures  all  over 
the  coast  of  Alaska  to  pay  his  way  up  there.  He  spent  three 
years  in  the  territory  before  his  great  opportunity  came.  He 
was  at  Glacier  Creek  when  the  news  was  brought  down  of  the 
immense  strike  in  Bonanza  Creek.  Here  is  his  stor)'  in  his  own 
words,  which  gi\'e  an  admirable  idea  of  the  way  the  mines  are 
worked  : 

"With  hundreds  I  rushed  to  the  new  fields.  After  a  few  days 
I  became  disgusted  and  started  to  leave  the  countr}'.  I  had 
gone  only  a  short  distance  down  the  river  when  my  boat  got 
stuck  in  the  ice  and  I  was  forced  to  foot  it  back  to  Dawson 
City. 

"Well,  it  was  Providence  that  did  that.  I  purchased  claim 
No.  60,  below  Discovery  claim,  and  it  proved  one  of  the  richest 
pieces  of  ground  in  the  district.  My  claim  will  average  16  or  17 
dollars  to  the  pan,  and  in  addition  to  what  I  have  already  taken 


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STRIKE    IT   RICH    ON    KLONDIKE. 


93 


out,  there  is  at  least  $250,000  in   sight.     Last  season  I  worked 
thirty  men,  and  I  intend  to  employ  more  next  year." 

B.  W.  Shaw,  a  former  insurance  man  of  Seattle,  writing  from 
Klondike,  says  he  does  not  expect  to  be  believed  when  he  says 
he  counted  five  five- gallon  oil  cans  full  of  gold  dust  in  one 
cabin,  the  result  of  a 
winter's  work  by  two 
men.  He  adds  that  100 
ounces  have  been  taken 
out  of  a  single  pan. 

William  Kulju  sold 
his  claim  for  $25,000, 
brought  down  1000 
ounces  of  dust  and 
started  home  for  Fin- 
land. 

Fred.  Lendeseen  went 
to  Alaska  two  years  ago, 
and  in  July  brought 
down  513,000  in  dust, 
besides  having  an  in- 
terest in  a  claim. 

Greg  Stewart  sold  his 
share  in  a  claim  for 
$45,000. 

Thomas  Flack  brought  along  $6000  in  dust  -  for  expenses, 
and  said  he  had  refused  $50,000  for  his  share  of  a  claim,  out 
of  which  his  partners  realized,  respecti^-ely,  $50,000  and  $55,000. 

J.  B.  Hollingshead  had  $25,000  in  dust  to  show  for  two  years" 
work. 

M.  S.  Norcross  said  :  "  I  was  sick  and  couldn't  work,  so  I 
cooked  for  Mr.  IMcNamee.     Still  I  had  a  claim  on  the  Bonanza. 


ONE    OF    THE    FIRST    SETTLERS. 


94  STRIKE   IT   RICH    ON   KLONDIKE. 

but  didn't  know  what  was  in  it  because  I  couldn't  work  it.  1 
sold  out  last  spring  for  $io,ooo,  and  was  satisfied  to  get  a  chance 
to  return  to  my  home  in  Los  Angeles." 

John  Marks  reported  thus  about  his  "pile:"  "I  brought 
;^l  1,500  in  gold  dust  with  me,  but  I  had  to  work  for  every  bit 
of  it.  There  is  plenty  of  gold  in  Alaska — more,  I  believe,  than 
the  most  sanguine  imagine — but  it  cannot  be  obtained  without 
great  effort  and  endurance." 

This  is  Talbot  Fox's  story  :  "  I  and  my  partner  went  into  the 
district  in  1895  and  secured  two  claims.  We  sold  one  for 
;$45,000.  I  brought  300  ounces,  which  netted  5 5 000.  Every- 
body is  at  Dawson  for  the  present.  The  district  is  apt  to  be 
overrun.  I  wouldn't  advise  anyone  to  go  there  this  fall,  for 
people  are  liable  to  go  hungry  before  spring.  About  800  went 
over  the  summit  from  Juneau,  600  miles,  so  there  may  not 
be  food  enough  for  all." 

Riches  on  the  American  Side. 

F.  G.  H.  Bowker,  a  Yukoner  of  six  moni;hs'  standing,  brought 
out  ;^40,000  and  the  information  that  the  placers  were  richer  on 
the  American  than  on  the   Canadian  side  of  the  boundary  line. 

Wonderful  tales  are  told  of  the  great  richness  of  the  Klondike 
placers.  More  than  one  man  reports  having  obtained  $1000 
from  a  single  pan  washing,  while  reports  of  yields  of  ^500  and 
^600  to  the  pan  are  numerous.  An  ordinary  pan  of  gravel  will 
weigh  twenty-five  pounds  and  a  yield  of  $1000  worth  of  gold 
means  sixty-two  ounces,  or  nearly  one-sixth  of  the  entire  bulk 
in  precious  metal.  The  average  is  said  to  be  fifty  dollars  to  the 
pan,  and  this  is  phenomenal  when  it  is  taken  into  consideration 
ihat  the  California  pan  washer  was  well  pleased  with  a  aniform 
product  of  three  dollars  to  a  washing,  and  could  niakv  money 
with  a  yield  running  as  low  as  fifty  cents.     With  thi^   kind  of 


STRIKE    IT   RICH   ON   KLONDIKE.  95 

field  to  work  in,  it  is  small  wonder  that  claim-holders  gladly  pay 
fifteen  dollars  a  day  for  common  labor,  and  are  unable  to  get 
anything  like  a  fair  supply  at  that.  It  is  only  men  who  are 
"broke"  who  are  willing  to  work  for  wages. 

Fever  Strikes  the  Navy. 

Lieutenant  John  Bryan,  of  Lexington,  who  is  f^n  the  revenue 
cutter  Rush,  stationed  at  Unalaska,  Alaska,  watching  the  seal 
fisheries,  writes  under  date  of  July  9th  to  relatives  in  Kentucky 
that  the  Alaska  gold  fields  are  not  overestimated.  H--  says  the 
placer  mining  is  in  the  old  bed  of  the  Yukon  River.      He  says  : 

"  You  dig  no  deeper  than  fifteen  feet  into  the  rivei  bed  when 
you  strike  a  strata  of  pure  gold  nuggets  among  the  stones. 
There  are  eight-y  claims  already  taken,  each  5 ,000  feet  long  and 
the  width  of  the  river  bed. 

"  The  great  obstacle  in  reaching  the  gold  fields  is  the  uncom- 
fortable mode  of  travel.  Steamers  go  no  further  than  the  mouth 
of  the  Yukon,  and  you  have  to  walk  the  1000  miles  or  pay  the 
extravagant  fare  asked  by  the  company,  which  runs  a  small  boat 
up  the  river  and  finally  lands  you  near  the  gold  fields. 

"  All  who  are  fortunate  enough  to  reach  the  country  are  cer- 
tain to  find  employment,  even  if  they  do  not  strike  a  claim, 
which  at  present  they  could  avoid  only  by  not  looking  for  it. 
The  poorest  miners  will  pay  fifteen  dollars  a  day  for  help  on 
their  claims,  but  it  will  cost  five  dollars  per  day  to  live  unless 
you  take  your  provisions  with  you." 

The  lieutenant  says  he  has  the  gold  fever  badly,  and  if  it  were 
not  for  the  fact  that  he  is  in  the  government  servdce  he  would  go 
to  the  new  Eldorado. 

The  Toronto  Globe  says  editorially  of  the  Klondike  situation  : 

"  While  there  is  probably  much  exaggeration  in  the  storie? 
that  are  brought  back  from  the  Yukon,  it  is  only  necessary  to 


96  STRIKE    IT   RICH    OX   KLONDIKE. 

read  the  calm  official  reports  of  Mr.  Ogilvie,  the  well-known 
officer  of  the  Geological  Survey,  to  realize  that  it  is  equally 
possible  that  there  is  no  exaggeration  in  them  at  all.  Mr.  Ogil- 
vie's  notes  read  like  passages  from  Monte  Cristo.  Writing  on 
December  9,  1896,  he  said  :  '  Bonanza  Creek  and  tributaries  are 
increasing  in  richness  and  extent  until  now  it  is  certain  that  mil- 
lions will  be  taken  out  of  the  district  in  the  next  few  years.  On 
some  of  the  claims  prospected  the  pay  dirt  is  of  great  extent 
and  very  rich.  One  man  told  me  yesterday  that  he  had  washed 
out  a  single  pan  of  dirt  on  one  of  the  claims  on  Bonanza  and 
found  fourteen  dollars  and  twenty-five  cents.  Of  course  that 
may  be  an  exceptionally  rich  pan,  but  five  to  seven  dollars  per 
pan  is  the  average  on  that  claim  it  is  reported,  with  five  feet  of 
pay  dirt  and  the  width  yet  undetermined  ;  but  it  is  known  to  be 
thirty  feet  even  at  that ;  figure  the  result  at  nine  to  ten  pans  to 
the  cubic  foot,  and  500  feet  long — nearly  ^4,000,000  at  five 
dollars  per  pan.  One-fourth  of  this  would  be  enormous. 
Another  claim  has  been  prospected  to  such  an  extent  that  it  is 
known  there  is  about  five  feet  pay  dirt  averaging  tv\-o  dollars  per 
pan,  and  width  not  less  than  thirty  feet:  Enough  prospecting 
has  been  done  to  show  that  there  are  at  least  fifteen  miles  of  this 
extraordinary  richness,  and  the  indications  are  that  we  will  have 
three  or  four  times  that  extent,  if  not  all  equal  to  the  above,  at 
least  very  rich.'  " 

Captain  McGregor's    Story. 

Captain  John  G.  ^McGregor,  of  Minnesota,  went  into  Alaska 
last  March,  and  the  last  of  letters  to  his  relatives  came  from  the 
land  of  gold  June  14th.  This  was  before  the  rush  of  the  fortune 
hunters  had  begun  or  before,  in  fact,  much  was  known  of  the 
Dawson  City  diggings.  Notwithstanding  that  fact,  the  letter 
contains  estimates  of  wealth  which  distance  far  and  away  any  of 


STRIKE    IT   RICH    ON    KLONDIKE.  f)7 

the  hitherto  published  accounts  of  the  yield  from  Alaska's  glit- 
tering sands. 

"We  have  washed  53000  to  a  single' pan,"  says  the  captain, 
in  one  of  his  letters.  This  is  almost  incredible.  It  would  be 
quite  so  in  fact  were  it  not  for  his  well-known  reputation.  He 
has  been  a  mining  expert  for  thirty  years,  and  much  of  that  time 
has  been  engaged  in  the  very  work  he  is  now  doing — placer 
mining. 

Up  to  date  the  world's  record  has  been  $1000  a  pan.  This 
was  in  Montana  at  Montana  Bar.  There  was  a  group  of  prop- 
erties in  what  was  known  as  the  Confederate  Gulch,  and  every 
100  feet  for  half  a  mile  along  the  shore  produced  $1000  a  pan 
for  every  washing.  The  year  was  1868.  Captain  McGregor 
owned  those  properties  then,  and  does  now,  so  that  in  the  present 
instance  his  word  must  command^a  good  deal  of  respect  on  that 
ground  alone. 

Results    of  Prospects. 

His  attention  was  directed  to  the  Yukon  valley  basin  some 
time  ago,  and  a  year  ago  last  March  he  sent  two  men  who  had 
been  in  his  pay  for  a^number  of  years  out  to  prospect.  He 
heard  from  them  from  time  to  time,  but  the  message  he  waited 
for  did  not  come  until  last  March.  Then  the  word  he  received 
caused  him  to  form  a  party  immediately.  He  had  had  his  prep- 
arations all  planned,  and  within  a  very  short  time  was  breasting 
the  mountain  snows  in  the  Chilkoot  pass.  He  could  not  wait  for 
the  warm  season,  and  made  the  trip  successfully,  though  at  the 
expense  of  considerable  suffering  by  members  of  his  expedition. 
On  his  arrival  he  immediately  assumed  charge  at  the  claims 
which  had  been  located  and  staked  out  by  his  men,  with  the 
result  that  he  uncovered  the  tremendously  rich  find  he  reports. 

Captain  McGregor  began  his  prospecting  immediately  after  the 
war.     He  came  into  control  of  the  Confederate  Gulch  properties 

7 


98  STRIKE    IT   RICH    ON    KLONDIKE. 

shortly  after  his  start,  and  most  of  the  gold  taken  out  was 
washed  under  his  direct  management.  The  gulch  was  then  500 
miles  from  the  borders  of  civilization,  and  each  installment  of 
the  yellow  stuff  had  to  be  escorted  down  to  the  railroad  by 
armed  bodies  of  200  or  300  men.  The  metal  was  packed  in 
beer  kegs  and  so  carried  without  trouble. 

The  captain  is  a  Scotchman  and  has  all  the  caution  and  con- 
servatism characteristic  of  the  nationality.  Coming  from  such  a 
source,  the  character  of  his  statement  is  far  superior  to  the 
report  which  might  be  brought  from  some  prospector  or  from 
entirely  irresponsible  parties.  Captain  McGregor  has  had  men 
in  his  employ  and  prospecting  various  regions  since  the  seventies. 
He  is  now  looking  for  quartz,  and  will  undoubtedly,  later  on, 
place  himself  at  the  head  of  some  very  important  deep-earth 
operations. 

Placer  mining  will  pay  when  not  more  than  twenty-five  cents 

is  realized  on  a  pan.      The  operation  is  very  generally  familiar, 

^ven  to  those  who    know  nothing  about    mining.       The  earth 

washed  in  the  Confederate  Gulch  was  so  dazzlingly  heavy  with 

gold   that   it   seemed   as   if  it  were    neatly  pure,   so  it   can   be 

imagined  what  description  the  wash  from  the  Klondike  soil  must 

take  on. 

How    Berry    Got    His   Stake. 

Clarence  Berry,  the  "  Barney  Barnato  "  of  the  Klondike,  tells 
a  thrilling  story  of  his  experience. 

Berry  was  a  fruit  raiser  in  the  southern  part  of  California.  He 
did  not  have  any  money.  There  was  no  particular  prospect  that 
he  would  ever  have  any.  He  saw  a  life  of  hard  plodding  for  a 
bare  living.  There  was  no  opportunity  at  home  of  getting 
ahead,  and,  like  other  men  of  the  far  West,  he  only  dreamed  of 
the  day  when  he  would  make  a  strike  and  get  his  million.  This 
was  three  years  ago.     There  had  then   come  down   from   the 


100  STRIKE   IT   RICH    ON   KLONDIKE. 

frozen  lands  of  Alaska  wonderful  stories  of  rewards  for  men 
brave  enough  to  run  a  fierce  ride  with  death  from  starvation  and 
cold.  He  had  nothing  to  lose  and  all  to  gain.  He  concluded 
to  face  the  danger.  His  capital  was  forty  dollars.  He  proposed 
to  risk  it  all — not  very  much  to  him  now,  but  a  mighty  sight 
three  years  ago.  It  took  all  but  five  dollars  to  get  him  to 
Juneau.  He  had  two  big  arms,  the  physique  of  a  giant  and 
the  courage  of  an  explorer.  Presenting  all  these  as  his  only 
collaterals,  he  managed  to  squeeze  a  loan  of  sixty  dollars  from  a 
man  who  was  afraid  to  go  with  him,  but  was  willing  to  risk  a 
little  in  return  for  a  promise  to  pay  back  the  advance  at  a  fabu- 
lous rate  of  interest. 

Juneau  was  alive  with  men  three  years  ago  who  had  heard 
from  the  Indians  the  yarns  of  gold  without  limit.  The  Indians 
brought  samples  of  the  rock  and  sand  and  did  well  in  trading 
them.  A  party  of  forty  men  banded  to  go  back  with  the 
Indians.  Berry  was  one  of  the  forty.  Each  had  an  outfit — a 
year's  mess  of  frozen  meat  and  furs.  It  was  early  spring  when 
the  first  batch  of  prospectors  started  out  over  the  mountains, 
and  the  snow  was  as  deep  as  the  cuts  in  the  sides  of  the  hills, 
the  natives  packed  the  stuff  to  the  top  of  Chilkoot  pass.  It 
Was  life  anci   death  every  day.     The  men  were  left  one  by  one 

along  the  cliffs. 

Disaster   to   the    Outfit. 

The  timid  turned  back.  The  whole  outfit  of  supplies  went 
down  in  Lake  Bennett.  The  forty  men  had  dwindled  to  three 
• — Berry  and  two  others.  The  others  chose  to  make  the  return 
trip  for  more  food.  Berry  wanted  gold.  He  borrowed  a  chunk 
of  bacon  and  pushed  on.  He  reached  Forty  Mile  Creek  within 
a  month.  There  was  not  a  cent  in  his  pocket.  The  single 
chance  for  him  was  work  with  those  more  prosperous.  His  pay 
was  5100  a  month.     It  was  not  enough,  and,  looking  for  better 


< 

Q 
< 
< 


STRIKE   IT   RICH    ON    KLONDIKE. 


101 


pay,  he  drifted  froin  one  end  of  the  gulch  to  the  other,  always 
keeping  his  shrevvcd  eye  open  for  a  chance  to  fix  a  claim  of  his 
own.  There  was  a  slump  in  the  prospects  of  the  district  and 
he  concluded  to  go  back  to  the  world. 

The  slump  was  not  the  only 
reason.  There  was  a  young 
woman  back  in  Fresno  who 
had  promised  to  be  his  wife. 
Berry  came  from  the  hidden 
world  without  injury  and  Miss 
Ethel  D.  Bush  kept  her 
pledge.     They  were  married. 

Berry  told  his  bride  about 
the  possibilities  of  Alaska.  She 
was  a  girl  of  the  mountains. 
She  said  she  had  not  married 
him  to  be  a  drawback,  but  a 
companion.  If  he  intended 
or  wanted  to  go  back  to  the 
Eldorado,  she  proposed  to  go 
with  him.  She  reasoned  that 
he  would  do  better  to  have 
her  at  his  side.  His  pictures 
of  the  dangers  and  hardships  had  no  effect  upon  her.  It 
was  her  duty  to  face  as  much  as  he  Avas  willing  to  face. 
They  both  decided  it  was  worth  the  tr>' — success  at  a  bound 
rather  than  years  of  common  toil.  Berry  declared  he  knew 
exactly  where  he  could  find  a  fortune.  ]\Irs.  Berry  convinced 
him  that  she  would  be  worth  more  to  him  in  his  venture  than 
any  man  that  ever  lived.  Furthermore,  the  trip  would  be  a  bridal 
tour  which  would  certainly  be  new  and  far  from  the  beaten  tracks 
of  sighing  lovers. 


A    MINER    IN    H.\RD    LUCK. 


102  STRIKE    IT   RICH    ON    KLONDIKE. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Berry  reached  Juneau  in  May,  1896.  They  had 
httle  capital  but  lots  of  determination.  They  took  the  boat  to 
Dyea,  and  the  rest  of  the  journey  was  made  with  dogs.  They 
slept  on  a  bed  of  boughs  under  a  tPnt.  They  reached  Forty- 
Mile  Creek  a  year  ago  in  June,  three  months  after  they  were 
married.     They  called  it  their  wedding  trip. 

Off  for  the  Discovery. 

Klondike  was  still  a  good  way  off,  and  it  was  thought  at  first 
that  the  claims  closer  at  hand  would  pay.  One  day  a  miner 
came  tearing  into  the  settlement  with  most  wonderful  tales  of  the 
region  further  on.  His  descriptions  were  like  fairy  tales  from 
"Arabian  Nights  " — accounts  fitting  accurately  the  scenes  in 
spectacular  plays,  where  the  nymph  or  queen  of  fairy  land  bids 
her  slaves  to  pick  up  chunks  of  gold  as  big  as  the  crown  of  a 
hat.  Berry  told  the  tale  to  his  wife.  She  said  she  would  stay 
at  the  post  while  he  went  to  the  front.  There  was  no  rest  that 
night  in  the  camp.  ]\Ien  were  rushing  out  pellmell,  bent  on 
nothing  but  getting  first  into  the  valley  of  the  Klondike  and 
establishing  claims.  Mrs.  Berry  worked  with  her  husband  with 
might  and  main,  and  before  daylight  he  was  on  the  road  over 
the  pass.  There  were  fifty  long  miles  between  him  and  fortune, 
and  he  worked  without  sleep  or  rest  to  beat  the  great  field 
which  started  with  him.  He  made  the  track  in  two  days.  He 
was  among  the  first  in.  He  staked  Claim  40,  above  the  Dis- 
covery; which  means  that  his  property  was  the  fortieth  one 
above  the  first  Aladdin.  It  was  agreed  that  each  claim  should 
have  500  feet  on  the  river — the  Bonanza.  This  was  the  begin- 
ning of  Berry's  fortune.  He  then  began  to  trade  for  interests  in 
other  sites.  He  secured  a  share  in  three  of  the  best  on  Eldorado 
Creek.  There  is  no  one  living  who  can  tell  how  much  this 
property  is  worth.     It  has  only  been  worked  in  the  crudest  way. 


STRIKE    YV    RICH    ON    KLONDIKE.  103 

yet  five  months  netted  him  enough  to  make  him  a  rich  man  the 
rest  of  his  life.  There  are  untold  and  inestimable  millions  where 
the  small  sum  from  the  top  was  taken. 

Berry  gives  all  the  credit  of  liis  fortune  to  his  young  wife.  It 
was  possible  for  her  to  have  kept  him  at  home,  after  the  first 
trip.  She  told  him  to  return — and  she  returned  with  him.  It 
was  an  exhibition  of  rare  courage,  but  rare  courage  rarely  fails. 
The  wedding  trip  lasted  about  fifteen  months.  Berry  says  it  was 
worth  $1,000,000  a  month.  This  estimate  is  one  measured  in 
cold  cash — not  sentiment. 

One  day  while  they  were  working  the  claim  on  Eldorado 
Creek,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Berry  gathered  $595  from  a  single  pan  of 
dirt.     This  dust  they  have  saved  in  a  pan  by  itself. 

Mrs.  C.  C.  Adams'  Letter. 

Mrs.  Chester  C.  Adams,  who  went  from  Tacoma  to  Dawson 
City  last  April,  writing  under  date  of  June  17th,  says  that  miners 
were  then  coming  into  Dawson  City  daily  with  all  the  gold  dust 
they  could  carry.  It  was  considered  a  small  matter  to  have  100 
pounds.  Many  were  bringing  this  amount  in  as  a  result  of  seven 
or  eight  months'  working  of  claims  on  shares. 

Other  men  brought  to  Dawson  from  200  to  500  pounds  of 
gold  dust,  and  Mrs.  Adams  makes  the  startling  statement  that  one 
man  had  brought  in  1300  pounds,  which  would  amount  to  over 
;^25o,ooo. 

Her  husband  estimated  that  the  steamer  then  loadiner  at  Daw- 
son  would  take  over  $2,000,000  to  St.  Michael's,  from  which 
point  it  will  be  brought  out  by  the  steamers  Portland  and  Excel- 
sior on  their  next  trips  down.  They  are  due  between  August  1 5th 
and  September  ist. 

Mrs.  Adams  declares  the  whole  truth  regarding  Klondike  has 
not  been  told  and   cannot  be,  because  people  would  not  believe 


104  STRIKE   IT   RICH   ON   KLONDIKE. 

it.  She  tells  of  new  discoveries  this  spring  on  the  Stewart  River 
and  Henderson  Creek  and  the  creeks  emptying  into  them. 

High  water  had  prevented  complete  prospecting,  but  when  she 
wrote  it  was  known  that  some  dirt  considerably  above  bed  rock 
would  run  ^lo  and  ^^12  per  pan.  Bed  rock  cannot  be  reached 
until  winter. 

Miners  are  also  preparing  to  do  more  thorough  work  on 
Chicken,  Mastodon,  Miller,  American,  Last  Chance  and  other 
creeks,  on  which  men  formerly  took  out  as  high  as  $30  per  day 
each.  These  creeks  were  deserted  by  last  fall's  rush  to  the 
Klondike. 

When  she  wrote  new  creeks  were  being  found  and  prospected 
in  all  directions  from  Dawson,  and  every  day  witnessed  a  stam- 
pede of  men  to  one  or  another  of  them. 

She  speaks  of  an  overland  trip  as  one  of  pleasure  rather  than 
hardship  when  properly  made. 

Ship  Gold  in  Barrels. 

Warren  Shea,  of  New  Whatcom,  Wash.,  a  reputable  and  re- 
liable man,  writes  from  Klondike  to  his  brother,  S.  Shea,  of  New 
Whatcom,  and  says  the  next  boat  to  leave  the  gold  field  will 
bring  out  dust  and  nuggets  in  barrels. 

Two  days  after  the  boat  that  brought  out  the  miners,  who 
arrived  on  Puget  Sound  aboard  the  steamer  Portland,  left  Daw- 
son City  one  of  the  largest  stores  at  that  place  was  closed  and 
the  building  was  turned  into  a  gold  packing  warehouse.  So 
great  a  quantity  of  gold  was  offered  for  shipment  that  it  was 
"decided  to  pack  it  in  barrels  holding  about  twenty-two  gal- 
lons. 
The  barrels  have  heretofore  been  used  for  packing  salt  fish. 

An  interesting  letter  from  Captain  J.  F.  Higgins,  of  the  steamer 
Excelsior,  describing  his  last  voyage  to  Alaska,  is  as  follows : 


STRIKE    IT    RICH    ON    KLONDIKE. 


105 


"Bonanza  Creek  dumps  into  Klondike  about  two  miles  above 
the  Yukon. 

"Eldorado  is  a  tributary  of  the  Bonanza.  There  arc  numer- 
ous other  creeks  and  tributaries,  the  main  river  being  300  miles, 
lone. 


PUGET  SOUND  AND  MT.  RAINER. 


"The  gold  so  far  has  been 
taken  from  Bonanza  and  Eldo- 
rado creeks,  both  well  named,  for 
the  richness  of  the  placers  is 
truly  marvelous. 

"The  Eldorado,  thirty  miles  long,  is  staked  the  whole  length, 
and  as  far  as  worked  has  paid. 

"  Each  claim  is  500  feet  long  and  is  worth  half  a  million. 

"So  uniform  has  the  output  been  that  one  miner,  who  has  an 
interest  in  three  claims,  told  me  that  if  offered  his  choice  he 
would  toss  up  to  decide.  One  of  our  passengers,  who  is  taking 
$1000  with  him,  has  worked  100  feet  of  his  ground  and  refused 


106  STRIKE    IT   RICH    ON    KLONDIKE. 

$200,000  for  the  remainder,  and  confidently  expects  to  clean  up 
$400,000  and  more. 

"  He  has  in  a  bottle  $212  from  one  pan  of  dirt. 

"  His  pay  dirt  while  being  washed  averaged  $250  an  hour  to 
each  man  shoveling  in. 

"  Two  others  of  our  miners  who  worked  their  own  claims 
cleaned  up  $6000  from  the  day's  washing. 

"There  is  about  fifteen  feet  of  dirt  above  bed  rock,  the  pay 
streak  averaging  from  four  to  six  feet,  which  is  tunneled  out 
while  the  ground  is  frozen, 

"  Of  course  the  ground  taken  out  is  thawed  by  building  fires, 
and  when  the  thaw  comes  and  water  rushes  in  they  set  their 
sluices  and  wash  the  dirt. 

Sold   Out  for   $45,000. 

"  Two  of  our  fellows  thought  a  small  bird  in  the  hand  worth 
a  large  one  in  the  bush  and  sold  their  claims  for  $45,000,  getting 
$4500  down,  the  remainder  to  be  paid  in  monthly  installments 
of  $10,000  each. 

"  The  purchasers  had  no  more  than  $5000  paid.  They  were 
twenty  days  thawing  and  getting  out  dirt. 

**  Then  there  was  no  water  to  sluice  with,  but  one  fellow  made 
a  rocker,  and  in  ten  days  took  out  the  $10,000  for  the  first 
installments.  So,  tunneling  and  rocking,  they  took  out  $40,000 
before  there  was  water  to  sluice  with. 

"  Of  course  these  things  read  like  the  story  of  Aladdin,  but 
fiction  is  not  at  all  in  it  with  facts  at  Klondike. 

"  The  ground  located  and  prospected  can  be  worked  out  in  a 
few  years,  but  there  is  still  an  immense  territory  untouched,  and 
the  laboring  man  who  can  get  there  with  one  year's  provisions 
will  have  a  better  chance  to  make  a  stake  than  in  any  other  part 
of  the  world." 


STRIKE    IT   RICH    ON    KLONDIKE.  107 

W.  F.  Parish,  of  Chicago,  has  received  from  a  business  asso- 
ciate in  Spokane,  Wash.,  H.  D.  Heacock,  a  letter  written  to  the 
latter  by  J.  F.  Wallace,  dated  Klondike,  Northwest  Territory, 
May  14th.     It  is  as  follows  : 

"  I  have  been  here  a  month  or  so.  There  is  a  placer  mining 
camp,  discovered  last  summer  and  supposed  to  be  as  rich  as 
Alder  Gulch  in  Montana.  They  have  got  as  much  as  $800  to 
a  pan,  and  will  have  out  over  ;$ 2, 000,000  this  winter.  There  are 
three  creeks  known  to  be  good.  Eldorado  is  the  richest,  there 
being  four  miles  without  a  blank  claim,  and  all  selling  from 
;^50,ooo  to  ;$ 1 00,000  each.  Some  will  not  sell  at  any  price.  It 
is  in  British  territory,  fifty  miles  above  Forty  Mile  Post,  on  the 
bank  of  the  Yukon  River.  Mostly  every  one  has  left  Circle 
City  and  come  up  on  the  ice.  During  the  winter  provisions 
were  scarce.  Boats  did  not  get  up  here  last  fall  on  account  of 
the  ice.  Flour  was  $1.30  per  pound,  bacon  $1.50  per  pound, 
shovels,  ;$20  each.  Dogs  sold  for  $200  and  ;$300  each  for 
freighting.  Freight  cost  $i  per  pound  from  Circle  City  here. 
Wages  are  $1$  per  day.  Lumber  is  $600  per  1000  feet  at  the 
mines.  Mines  are  from  five  to  twenty  miles  from  Dawson  City, 
situated  at  the  mouth  of  the  Klondike.  Claims  are  500  feet  in 
length.  Ground  frozen  from  top  to  bottom  and  has  to  be  thawed 
with  fire.  Mostly  drifting  diggings  about  twenty  feet  deep. 
Some  twenty  or  thirty  claims  will  open  from  top.  I  did  not  get 
here  in  time  to  locate,  so  I  am  still  a  prospector.  Very  mild 
winter  ;  only  seventy-four  below  zero  the  coldest.  River  frozen 
yet,  but  expect  it  to  break  almost  any  day." 

Inspector  Strickland's  Report. 

A  special  from  Regina,  Northwest  Territory,  says  :  "  Inspector 
Strickland,  of  the  Northwest  mounted  police  arrived  here  last 
night  from  the  Yukon. 


108  STRIKE    IT    RICH    ON    KLONDIKE. 

"  Mr.  Strickland  does  not  believe  the  story  of  $250,000  having 
been  made  there  by  any  one  man,  but  says  the  most  liberal  truths 
read  like  fairy  tales.  It  is  hard  to  say  just  what  is  being  made. 
The  miners  are  reticent  about  their  earnings.  He  says  that 
miners  who  have  come  out  and  staked  claims  this  year,  number- 
ing about  100,  have  taken  or  sent  away  sums  varying  from  $5000 
to  $50,000  each,  and  have  kept  back  considerable  sums  for 
development  and  other  investments.  Miners  from  California, 
Australia  and  South  Africa  say  that  nothing  in  the  world  has 
been  struck  as  rich. 

"  Inspector  Strickland  says  that  if  the  country  fills  up  as 
rapidly  as  it  is  doing,  the  two  trading  companies  will  not  be  able 
to  supply  food  for  the  inhabitants.  Provisions  are  not  so  dear 
as  might  be  expected  :  Flour  is  $12  a  hundred  ;  bacon  40  cents 
a  pound ;  canned  meats  75  cents  and  $1,  and  cariboo  and  moose 
flesh  is  sold  by  the  Indians  at  50  cents  a  pound.  Inspector 
Strickland  strongly  recommends  that  no  person  should  go  out 
to  the  Yukon  district  without  taking  with  him  a  year's  food,  as 
well  as  some  money,  because  paying  claims  are  not  always  found 
immediately,  and  there  is  the  long  and  hard  work  of  building  a 
home.  He  says  that  mining  is  not  a  picnic.  All  is  hard  work. 
Wood  is  scarce  and  requires  a  great  deal  of  labor.  The  climate 
is  healthy  and  there  is  very  little  sickness.  The  chief  complaints 
are  scur\y,  kidney  trouble,  and  rheumatism. 

"  Though  the  winter  is  eight  months  long,  it  is  only  three  weeks 

that  the  sun  is  not  seen.     Miners'  wages  are  fifteen  dollars  a  day, 

but  this  rate  will  fall  soon  if  the  present  rush  continues  from  the 

Pacific  coast." 

Finds   No   Hard  Times. 

J.  P.  Staley,  who  is  working  a  claim  on  Bonanza  Creek,  wrote 
to  C.  P.  Enright,  of  Oilman,  Ills.,  as  follows  : 

"There  is  no  doubt  this  is  the  best  place  to  make  money  in 


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STRIKE   IT   RICH    OxN   KLONDIKE.  109 

the  world.  Sell  out  and  come  here.  We  need  live  business 
men.  Flour  is  $12  a  hundred,  bacon  40  cents  a  pound,  sugar 
25  cents  a  pound,  rice  25  cents  a  pound,  any  kind  of  dried  fruit 
25  cents  a  pound.  All  kinds  of  canned  fruit,  75  cents  a  can. 
Bring  fur  moccasins  with  you.  They  will  fetch  from  $1^  to  ;$2  5 
a  pair. 

"  Brother  Dan  and  I  are  working  in  a  mine,  or  rather  in  a  bed 
of  a  creek.  We  are  getting  ^15  a  day  each  for  ten  hours,  and  it 
is  thought  wages  will  be  ;^2  5  a  day  during  the  winter.  It  takes 
about  ;^6oo  a  year  each  for  provisions,  blankets,  gloves,  mocca- 
sins, etc.  We  expect  to  remain  here  all  winter.  It  is  too  long 
a  trip  to  lose  the  chance  of  making  a  stake  by  refusing  to  stay. 

"  Everbody  is  pleased  with  the  country.  There  are  no  hard 
times.  All  have  buckskin  socks,  containing  more  or  less  gold 
dust.     There  is  no  other  kind  of  money. 

"  During  June  and  the  first  days  of  July  it  was  very  hot,  but 
under  the  moss,  which  is  eight  inches  thick,  solid  ice  is  encoun- 
tered. It  has  not  been  dark  for  over  a  month,  and  will  not  be 
until  the  last  of  September.  It  is  possible  to  read  any  time  du- 
ring the  twenty-four  hours.  The  sun  goes  behind  the  moun- 
tains about  10.30  p.  m.  and  comes  up  about  i  a.  m.  Old-timers 
5ay  the  winters  are  not  so  bad  even  if  the  thermometer  goes 
down  to  70  degrees  below  zero.  There  is  no  wind.  All  dress 
in  fur  clothing. 

"I  expect  to  work  a  claim  on  shares  this  week  and  will  make 
plenty  of  money.  No  matter  how  big  the  stories  are  you  hear 
of  this  place  they  are  not  big  enough.  I  have  received  but  one 
letter  from  home.     It  was  forty-three  da)^s  on  the  way." 

Go  to  'Work  for  Wages. 

Two  other  letters  from  men  who  found  it  necessary  to  resort 
to  day  labor  at  the  start  are  interesting  reading. 


110  STRIKE   IT   RICH   ON   KLONDIKE. 

Hart  Humber,  a  young  man  who  left  Rossland,  B.  C,  early 
last  spring  and  arrived  at  Dawson  City,  Northwest  Territory,  on 
June  9th,  over  the   Chilkoot   Pass   route,   writes   the  following : 

"Dawson  City,  N.  W.  T.,  June  18,  1897. — Friend  Charlie: 
After  leaving  Dyca  we  had  a  trip  full  of  hairbreadth  escapes  and 
arrived  at  Dawson  City  on  June  9th. 

"  I  will  start  to  work  to-morrow  morning  at  ^1.50  per  hour. 
I  will  work  with  pick  and  shovel  about  three  weeks,  and  will 
then  have  a  better  job  with  the  same  outfit  and  will  get  an  ounce 
of  gold  per  day  (^17). 

"  There  are  at  least  fifty  people  going  out  on  the  boat  to-mor- 
row, who  are  taking  out  all  the  way  from    $10,000  to  $100,000. 

"  This  is  undoubtedly  the  richest  placer  camp  ever  struck. 
The  diggings  are  fifteen  miles  from  Dawson.  One  Montana 
man  took  $96,000  out  of  forty-five  square  feet,  another  took 
$130,000  out  of  eighty-five  square  feet,  and  there  are  many 
more  strikes  equally  as  rich." 

Klondike  Will  Kill  Bryan. 

Lewis  W.  Anderson,  a  Tacoma  machinist,  wrote  this  to  his 
wife  : 

"  I  have  been  here  a  little  more  than  two  months  and  have 
already  secured  a  quarter  interest  in  a  claim  for  which  I  have 
been  offered  $26,000,  but  out  of  which  I  expect  to  make  as  my 
part  more  than  $100,000  in  the  next  year.  This  for  us,  you 
know,  is  a  big  thing,  and  yet  there  are  dozens  of  men  who  are 
making  ten  times  as  much. 

"  When  I  arrived  my  money  had  almost  given  out.  I  had 
only  $31  left,  so  I  worked  ten  days  at  sawing  lumber  at  $15  per 
day  to  get  a  start.  Nothing  like  this  has  ever  been  heard  of  in 
the  world.  Money,  that  is  gold  dust,  is  almost  as  plentiful  as 
watei       There  are  many  hardships  to  be  endured,  but  I  expect 


STRIKE    IT    RICH    ON    KLONDIKE.  Ill 

to  return  to  Tacoma  next  year  safe  and  sound  with  lots  of 
money. 

"  Tell  Henry  that  we  will  have  to  change  our  politics,  because 
the  Klondike  will  kill  Bryan  and  the  silver  question  and  the 
money  power  of  Wall  Street  will  try  to  demonetize  gold.  The 
gold  that  will  come  out  of  here  inside  of  two  or  three  years 
will  make  Wall  Street  more  anxious  to  demonetize  gold  than  it 
ever  was  to  demonetize  silver." 

But  in  spite  of  this  long  list,  at  best  only  partial,  of  men  and 
women  who  have  "  struck  it  rich,"  there  is  another  side  to  the 
question,  and  fairness  towards  the  reader  demands  it  to  have  a 
showing.      Let  it  speak  for  itself. 

Hestwood  Tells  of  Drawbacks. 

J.  O.  Hestwood,  who  brought  a  small  fortune  with  him  to 
Seattle,  in  an  article  telegraphed  from  Seattle  to  the  New  York 
World,  says  : 

"  Modern  or  ancient  history  records  nothing  so  rich  in  extent 
as  the  recent  discoveries  of  gold  on  the  tributaries  of  the  Yukon 
River.  The  few  millions  of  dollars  recently  turned  into  the 
banks  and  smelters  of  Seattle  and  San  Francisco  from  the  Klon- 
dike district  is  but  a  slight  indication  of  what  is  to  follow  in  the 
near  future.  When  we  consider  the  fact  that  there  is  scarcely  a 
shovelful  of  soil  in  Alaska  and  the  Northwest  Territory  that 
does  not  yield  grains  of  gold  in  appreciable  quantities,  who  can 
compute  the  value  of  the  golden  treasure  that  the  great  country' 
will  yield  in  the  next  few  years  ? 

"  The  Yukon  River,  which  forms  a  great  artery  flowing 
through  this  frozen,  rock-ribbed  region  for  2600  miles,  seems 
to  be  a  providential  highway,  opened  up  for  the  pioneer  gold 
hunters  and  their  followers,  who  are  numbered  by  thousands 
yearly.     There  is  room  in  that  country  for   100,000  miners  for 


112  STRIKE   IT   RICH    ON   KLONDIKE. 

lOO  years.      I  do  not  make  this  statement  from  wh:it  some  one 

else    has  told    me,   or  from  what  I  have    read.      I  speak  from 

actual  experience  in  that  land  of  gold.      I  have  traveled  over  her 

rivers  of  ice  and  mountains  of  snow  in  the  springtime  for  three 

years. 

Perils  of  the  Trail. 

"Four  years  ago  last  ]\Iay,  when  I  first  went  into  that  country, 
little  was  known  of  its  wonderful  possibilities.  With  a  heavy 
outfit  strapped  to  the  backs  of  Indians,  squaws  and  dogs,  I 
struggled  over  the  trail  from  Dyea,  on  the  southern  coast  of 
Alaska,  to  Sheep  camp,  twelve  miles  distant,  which  was  my  first 
camping  place. 

"  The  softening  snow,  under  the  sun's  hot  rays,  rendered 
traveling  difficult,  and  it  was  a  pitiable  sight  to  watch  the  half- 
starved,  half-clothed  Indians  struggling  along  with  their  heavy 
burdens  on  their  backs,  climbing  the  mountain  side,  frequently 
breaking  through  drifted  snow  and  being  buried  almost  out  of 
sight ;  wading  icy  streams,  falling  trom  foot  logs  and  enduring 
hardships  from  which  death  would  seem  a  welcome  relief. 

"The  endurance  of  these  Indians,  or  human  beasts  of  burden, 
w'as  a  constant  surprise  lo  me.  I  remember  one  young  buck 
whose  smallest  load  was  150  pounds.  His  wife  was  a  young 
squaw,  who,  with  seventy-five  pounds  strapped  to  her  back  and 
a  four-weeks-old  child  in  her  arms,  struggled  up  the  Chilkoot 
Pass,  where  the  declivity  was  so  steep  that  we  were  compelled 
to  dig  steps  in  the  ice  and  snow  in  order  to  make  the  ascent. 
One  poor  old  Indian,  I  remember,  had  but  half  a  dozen  small 
cawdle  fish  and  one  grouse  to  subsist  on  for  three  days. 

"  We  w^ere  landed  on  the  summit  of  Chilkoot  Pass,  4100  feet 
above  the  sea  level,  at  Dyea,  in  the  midst  of  a  terrific  snow  storm, 
such  as  takes  place  frequently  in  this  pass  in  the  spring  of  the 
year,  endangering  the  lives   of  many  who  attempt  going  over 


STRIKE    ir   RICH    ON    KLONDIKE.  113 

it.  The  blinding  snow  rendered  it  dangerous  in  the  ex- 
treme to  attempt  the  descent  from  the  mountain  toward  Lake 
Linderman,  the  headwaters  of  the  Yukon  River.  To  make 
matters  worse,  the  clouds  settled  down  on  the  mountain  top, 
and  we  dared  not  leave  the  camp  for  more  than  a  few  hundred 
feet  for  fear  we  might  lose  our  footing  and  be  plunged  over  a 
precipice  or  into  some  yawning  chasm  in  the  mountain.  A  mis- 
step meant  death. 

Among    the    Awful    Glaciers. 

"  We  took  shovels  and  dug  a  hole  in  the  ice  and  snow  and 
spread  a  tent  over  it,  placing  sacks  of  provisions  on  the  tent  to 
weigh  it  down  so  the  fierce  wind  ^^ould  not  carry  it  away.  Our 
supper  consisted  of  a  cup  of  tea  and  a  few  crumbs  of  bread. 
Great  glaciers  were  sleeping  all  around  us,  but  there  was  little 
sleep  for  the  weary  travelers  that  night.  The  glaciers,  however, 
seemed  to  be  endowed  with  life  and  fits  of  wakefulness,  for  every 
now  and  then  wc  would  hear  a  crackling  sound,  followed  by  a 
noise  as  of  crashing  thunder,  and  10,000  tons  of  sleeping  giants 
would  be  precipitated  from  the  mountain  heights  and  shattered 
into  icy  diamonds  to  feed  the  roaring  torrents  in  the  chasm 
below. 

"  ]\Iorning  broke  bright  and  clear.  There  was  no  wood  on 
the  mountain  top,  and  we  were  compelled  to  chop  up  a  sled  for 
fuel.  This  was  expensive.  We  tried  to  breakfast  on  a  pot  of 
half-cooked  beans  and  a  little  coffee,  which  would  freeze  at  the 
slightest  provocation.  Two  sleds  were  then  loaded  with  pro- 
visions and  started  down  the  mountain.  They  went  with  a 
velocity  as  if  fired  from  a  cannon  until  they  struck  the  ice  in 
Crater  Lake,  three-quarters  of  a  mile  below.  After  that  every 
foot  of  the  ground  we  gained  was  by  the  most  excruciating 
labor  a  human  being  can  be  subjected  to. 

"  Two  weeks  were  consumed  in  reaching  Lake  Linderman, 
6 


114  STRIKE   IT   RICH   ON   KLONDIKE. 

*;lcvcn  miles  farther  on.  Another  week  had  passed  before  a 
boat  was  completed  with  which  we  could  make  our  way  down 
the  river.  While  in  camp  at  Lake  Linderman  one  of  the  party 
injured  his  knee,  and  three  times  a  hunting  knife  had  to  be 
brought  into  requisition  and  incisions  made.  Only  after  the 
most  careful  nursing  was  he  able  to  proceed  on  the  journey. 
Men  are  often  taken  with  snow  blindness  in  that  country  and  lie 
helpless  for  days  in  their  tents,  unable  to  cook  enough  to  sus- 
tain hfe.  If  deserted  by  their  companions  in  this  condition  their 
fate  is  sealed. 

On    to    Forty  Mile. 

"  From  this  point  we  encountered  few  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
river  transportation  until  we  reached  Forty  Mile,  which  is  located 
where  the  141st  meridian  crosses  the  Yukon.  Between  Marsh 
Lake  and  Lake  Lebarge  there  is  sixty  miles  of  river,  in  which 
occur  the  Grand  Canon  and  the  White  Horse  Rapids.  Before 
reaching  Grand  Canon  the  river  is  wide  and  smooth,  when  all 
at  once  the  water  is  forced  through  the  caiion  at  incredible  speed. 
The  canon  is  a  crevice  where  the  mountain  has  been  split  in 
twain,  apparently,  to  make  an  outlet  for  the  water.  The  walls 
are  perpendicular  on  either  side,  rising  to  a  height  of  100  feet. 
Three  miles  below  is  the  W^hite  Horse  Rapids  ;  the  most  danger- 
ous portion  of  the  Yukon  River. 

"  I  simply  mention  these  facts  in  order  that  any  one  who 
thinks  of  going  into  that  country  may  know  before  hand  that 
the  search  for  gold  there  is  preceded  by  hardships  and  privations 
which  they  little  dream  of  unless  they  have  penetrated  the 
American  land  of  the  midnight  sun.  But  after  the  dangers  are 
passed  the  adventurer  finds  himself  in  a  country  rich  in  mineral 
resources. 

"  Mark  you,  the  country  has  yet  given  but  a  faint  indication 
of  its  real  weUth.     The  gold  that  has  been  found  only  points 


STRIKE    IT   RICH    ON    KLONDIKE.  115 

the  way  to  the  true  deposits,  which  will  prove  to  be  the  wonder 
of  the  world." 

John  Welch,  a  former  employe  in  an  Indianapolis  iron  foundry, 
has  Avritten  to  his  mother  from  Circle  City,  saying  he  has  been  in 
the  Alaskan  gold  fields  for  fifteen  months  and  could  come  home 
at  any  time  with  a  few  thousand  dollars,  but  he  prefers  to  remain 
a  while  longer  and  return  rich.  He  says  that  gold  nuggets 
worth  from  twenty  to  fifty  dollars  are  being  found  daily,  but 
many  men  have  become  insane  from  hardships  and  from  dis- 
appointment. Successful  miners  are  squandering  fortunes  in 
reckless  extravagance. 

Says  Lucky  Ones  Are  Few. 

William  Ireland  has  sent  a  letter  from  Alaska  which  ought  to 
be  a  warning  to  men  who  are  hastening  to  the  field  without 
due  deliberation.     He  says  : 

"Undoubtedly  it  is  true  that  some  very  rich  discoveries  have 
been  made  on  the  Klondike  in  the  last  year  or  so.  I  have  been 
in  the  midst  of  the  excitement  and  know  that  a  large  amount  of 
gold  has  been  taken  out.  As  in  California,  a  few  lucky  ones 
have  made  the  killing. 

"  Of  the  200  miners  working  near  where  I  am  located  thirty- 
one  are  mine  owners  and  the  others  laborers.  I  receive  $10  a 
day,  and  I  can  work  about  165  days  during  the  year.  The  cost  of 
living,  I  should  say,  would  average  about  $2  per  day  per  year, 
and  at  this  price  I  enjoy  none  of  the  luxuries.  I  am  on  an 
equality  with  the  rest  of  the  workers,  only  three  of  whom 
receive  higher  wages. 

"  The  mine-owners  are  making  fortunes.  Just  how  much 
money  has  been  taken  out  can  only  be  roughly  guessed  at,  but 
it  is  certain  that  the  placers  here  are  exceedingly  rich.  Those 
who  come  from  California,  if  they  possess  money  enough^  may 


11 G  STRIKE   IT   RICH   ON   KLONDIKE. 

succeed  in  making  a  strike,  but  I  would  not  advise  anyone  to 
come  up  here  without  a  sufficient  supply  of  money  to  carry  him 
over  a  year.  There  is  plenty  of  country  to  prospect  in,  and  the 
summers  are  delightful,  so  that  for  about  five  and  a  half  months 
m  the  year  a  miner  can  work  out  of  doors  as  well  here  as  in 
California.  Be  sure  and  send  a  big  supply  of  papers.  If  I  were  " 
starting  out  again,  I  would  carry  at  least  one-third  of  my  load 
in  reading  matter.  Life  in  the  long  months  of  winter  is  unbear- 
ably dull  without  something  to  read." 

Kills   Himself  on   the  Road. 

There  is  a  story  of  despair  and  death  from  the  rush  into 
Alaska  gold  fields.  It  comes  from  Lake  Linderman  on  the 
Dyea  route,  and  the  victim  was   Frank  Matthews,  of  Seattle. 

Matthews  and  his  partner,  George  Folsom,  had  safely  crossed 
the  divide,  and  were  rafting  their  supplies  along  the  lakes  toward 
the  Yukon.  In  the  rapids  between  Lakes  Linderman  and  Ben- 
nett the  raft  went  to  pieces,  the  supplies  were  scattered  along 
the  river,  and  Matthews  was  rescued  after  a  severe  injury  to  his 
leg.  His  partner  placed  him  in  a  comfortable  position  and 
started  back  for  help.  Before  going  a  hundred  yards  he  heard 
the  report  of  a  rifle  and  was  horrified  to  find  Matthews  shot 
dead.     Undoubtedly  he  committed  suicide. 

Miss  Mary  E.  Mellor,  superintendent  of  the  United  States 
Indian  Training  School  at  Unalaska,  who  came  on  the  Portland, 
July  17th,  said  the  hardships  in  the  Northwestern  gold  region 
are  terrible.  Summers  are  short,  winters  long  and  the  supply  of 
food  and  clothing  inadequate. 

"  When  I  left  flour  was  selling  at  the  rate  of  ;$50  a  sack,  and 
if  the  luxury  of  eggs  was  indulged  in,  the  consumers  paid  $4 
per  dozen.  Then  it  must  be  remembered  that  each  egg  of  the 
twelve  was    not  what    a    Pennsylvania  farmer    would    corL^'der 


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AGAINST  THE  INDIANS 


STRIKE   IT   RICH   Ox\   KLONDIKE.  117 

freshly  laid.  Clothing  is  also  hard  to  obtain  and  is  high  in 
price,  the  majority  of  the  gold  seekers  wearing  clothes  made  of 
coarse  woolen  blankets." 

Fred.  Moss  returned  from  Klondike  to  Great  Falls,  Mont., 
and  said  the  upper  Yukon  was  a  country  of  starvation,  outlawr}^' 
and  death.  He  had  no  story  about  how  much  he  was  worth 
and  exhibited  no  dust. 

.  J.  D.  Clements,  of  Seneca  Falls,  N.  Y.,  told  a  story  something 
like  Moss'.  He  said  he  almost  starved  to  death  while  prospect- 
ing. But  he  brought  back  ;^40,ooo  and  said  he  would  return  to 
Klondike  in  the  spring 

Mrs.  Poppy   Calls   on  Mrs.   Gage. 

Among  the  many  women  who  called  on  Mrs.  Eli  Gage  in 
Chicago  before  she  started  for  Dawson  City  was  a  Mrs.  Poppy, 
whose  husband  had  spent  fifteen  years  in  Alaska.  Mrs.  Gage 
told  her  that  if  her  husband  had  been  long  in  the  gold  fields,  he 
could  probably  give  her  more  information  than  she  could. 
According  to  Mrs.  Poppy,  the  stories  her  husband  tells  indicate 
that  there  are  some  things  in  Alaska  that  are  quite  as  valuable 
as  gold,  and  his  experience  has  demonstrated  that  some  of  them 
are  really  "  worth  their  weight  in  gold."  At  one  time  when  he 
was  in  the  gold  fields  he  had  in  his  possession  300  ounces  of 
virgin  yellow  metal,  but  not  enough  food  to  maintain  the  spark 
of  life  in  a  rabbit. 

E.  W.  Egalbrecht,  who  went  over  Chilkoot  Pass  in  February, 
wrote  back  from  Dawson  City  in  June,  as  follows : 

"  If  I  and  many  another  had  known  anything  about  the  hard- 
ships and  exposures  of  this  trip  we  would  not  have  gone.  It 
took  me  three  days  and  half  of  the  nights  to  reach  Pleasant 
Camp  with  my  outfit,  and  I  will  only  add  that  when  I  slept  at 
'she  foot  of  the  cafion  during  the  last  night  I  awoke  to  find  my 


118  STRIKF    IT   RICH    ON   KLONDIKE. 

camp  six  inches  under  water.  All  my  clothes  were  soaked  and 
my  misery  was  indescribable.  My  feet  especially  suffered,  be- 
cause the  skin  had  become  very  soft  from  perspiring  in  the  rub- 
ber boots,  and  sore  from  walking,  so  that  I  suffered  excruciating 
pain  at  times.  I  also  suffered  much  from  nausea,  not  being  able 
to  accustom  myself  to  the  food.  The  everlasting  odor  of  bacon 
and  beans  that  clung  to  everything  took  away  my  appetite.  The 
poorest  hut  in  civilization  seems  like  a  palace,  but  people  never 
know  when  they  are  well  off. 

"  I  have  worked  hard  all  my  life,  but  it  is  nothing  compared  to 
what  one  has  to  accomplish  on  a  trip  like  this.  Snow  and  ice 
all  around  wherever  one  looks,  and  one's  face  feels  as  though  he 
was  being  whipped,  but  we  had  to  push  on  if  we  did  not  want  to 
perish. 

"At  Sheep  Camp  we  found  about  200  miners,  mostly  from 
the  Mexico  and  Al-Ki,  all  of  whom  were  unable  to  proceed  to 
Stone  House,  owing  to  the  stormy  weather.  However,  the  wind 
died  out,  and  now  began  some  climbing  up  a  steep  mountain 
trail,  with  100  pounds  on  the  sled,  as  much  as  the  strongest  man 
could  pull,  otherwise  he  would  be  dragged  backward.  I  tell 
3'ou  one's  limbs  tremble  with  the  horrible  exertion.  Such  a  trip 
takes  from  two  to  three  hours,  and  we  made  three  of  them. 

No  Laughter  in  the  Camps. 

"  We  were  allowed  thirty  minutes  for  a  lunch  of  frozen  beans 
and  a  pipe  of  tobacco,  and  then  forward  again.  If  after  such  a 
day's  work  you  pass  through  a  camp  you  hear  no  laughter,  but 
see  only  pale,  tired  faces.  Everthing  is  quiet,  and  you  might 
kick  their  hands  and  they  would  not  move  out  of  your  way. 

"  Fourteen  hundred  feet  up  a  steep  incline,  step  by  step,  with 
your  feet  firmly  planted  down  and  your  pack  on  your  back,  you 
push   on.     If  you    slipped  there    would    be  no  stop  until  you 


STRIKE    IT    RICH    ON    KLONDIKE.  119 

reached  the  bottom.  In  this  way  our  journey  continued  for 
some  time.  We  had  many  narrow  escapes,  and  suffered  severely 
from  cold,  but  arrived  eventually  at  our  journey's  end — Klon- 
dike, the  land  of  promise  and  of  gold." 

Mrs.  Julia  Cook,  of  San  Francisco,  received  the  following 
letter,  via  the  Portland,  from  her  husband,  at  Dawson  City: 

"At  last,  at  last,  we  reached  here  to-day.  What  we  have 
lived  through  I  will  not  trust  to  pen  and  paper ;  the  many  little 
crosses  on  the  road  here — they  count  up  over  a  hundred — speak 
only  too  plainly  of  the  innumerable  dangers  of  this  terrible  jour- 
ney. Let  us  rather  pass  over  our  experiences  in  silence,  for 
surely  we  are  fortunate  to  have  reached  here.  Now  we  must 
get  to  work. 

"The  news  of  the  gold  strike,  though  I  feared  it  might  be,  is 
not  exaggerated.  On  the  contrary,  all  the  stories  are  surpassed 
by  the  facts.  There  are  fellows  here  of  doubtful  calling  who 
since  last  fall  have  gathered  in  over  $100,000.  Two  brothers 
have  over  $150,000. 

"  We  were  in  a  great  hurry  to  get  here,  and  now  learn  that  for 
a  month  work  cannot  be  begun  in  the  mines,  although  the  roses 
and  the  most  beautiful  flowers  are  blooming.  Still  we  can  dig 
down  but  a  few  inches  without  striking  ground  frozen  hard  as 
rock.  There  is  all  kinds  of  work  going  on  in  this  mushroom 
city,  still  there  are  plenty  of  idle  men." 

Hurley's  Pay-Dirt  Swept  Away. 

James  Young,  General  Agent  at  Milwaukee  for  the  Great 
Northern  Railroad,  received  a  Klondike  nugget  one  day  in 
August  from  James  Hurley,  a  well-known  mining  promoter, 
who  was  active  in  operations  on  the  Gogebic  iron  range  during  its 
palmy  days. 

Mr.  Hurley  has  had  an  interesting  experience  in  Alaska.     Mr. 


120  STRIKE    IT   RICH    ON   KLONDIKE. 

Young  sold  him  a  ticket  to  that  region  some  months  ago,  and 
was  surprised  to  hear  from  him. 

Accompanying  the  package  containing  the  piece  of  metal  was 
a  letter  from  j\Ir.  Hurley  which  stated  that  he  had  not  become 
very  rich,  although  he  had  acquired  more  money  in  Alaska  than 
he  ever  had  before. 

This  is  not  Mr.  Hurley's  first  experience  in  gold  mining  in 
Alaska.  He  went  to  that  country  with  several  friends  as  long 
ago  as  the  70's. 

I\Iost  of  the  miners  at  that  time  were  so  poor  they  v/ere  com- 
pelled to  wash  the  dirt  as  fast  as  possible,  that  they  might  get 
enough  gold  to  exchange  at  the  store  for  the  necessaries  of  life. 

Hurley  and  his  companions  had  plenty  of  money,  and  .they 
conceived  and  partly  carried  out  the  idea  of  digging  out  a  pile  of 
the  pay  dirt,  building  their  cabin  up  against  it  and  washing  it  out 
during  the  winter,  alongside  of  the  fire  in  the  cabin. 

By  this  plan  they  expected  to  keep  themselves  employed  all 
winter,  whereas  by  the  ordinary  method  they  would  have  to  dis- 
continue operations  all  through  the  long  winter. 

Just  before  the  winter  set  in  there  was  a  big  freshet  that 
washed  away  the  pile  of  pay  dirt  that  they  had  been  working  all 
summer  to  secure. 

They  were  nearly  out  of  money  and  lost  courage.     They  made 

their  way  back  to  their  homes,  and  Hurley  did  not  return  until  about 

a  year  ago. 

Jerseymen    Have  Good    Luck. 

W.  J.  Hibbert,  one  of  a  party  of  seven  from  Trenton,  N.  J., 
who  went  to  the  Yukon  late  in  1 896,  grubstaked  by  some  Phila- 
delphia and  Trenton  merchants,  has  written  back  to  his  "  angels" 
that  the  seven  prospectors  have  laid  claim  to  a  large  tract  of  rich 
dredger  land,  and  that  they  will  add  to  that  area  twenty-one 
placer  claims. 


STRIKE    IT   RICH    OX    KLONDIKE.  121 

He  tells  some  big  stories  about  the  luck  of  the  prospectors  in 
that  countr)^  One  man  worked  five  days,  at  the  end  of  which 
time  he  cleaned  up  $40,000.  Another  man  who  had  worked 
industriously  two  months  found  at  the  end  of  that  time  that  he 
was  $150,000  ahead  of  the  game. 

J.  R.  Fitzgerald,  of  Springfield,  O.,  wrote  that  a  boat  which 
he  and  his  two  companions  had  built  was  wrecked  on  the  trip  to 
Dawson  City,  and  they  lost  everything  they  had  ;  but  he  had 
some  friends  connected  with  the  Alaska  Commercial  Company 
and  vvent  to  work  at  ten  dollars  a  day  as  soon  as  he  got  there. 
Ke  said  the  most  dangerous  places  are  the  canon,  White  Horse 
Rapids,  and  Leads  River,  many  people  being  drowned  at  those 
three  place". 

Fitzgerald  said  that  reports  as  to  the  richness  of  the  Klondike 
fields  have  not  been  exaggerated,  and  he  knows  of  as  high  as 
$1000  worth  of  dust  being  taken  out  of  a  single  pan,  while  some 
claims  now  pa}'  as  high  as  Si  2,000  to  Si  5,000  a  day. 

The  prospectors  are  locating  new  claims  ever}^  day,  which  seem 
to  be  paying  as  well  as  the  old.  He  said  that  miners  frequently 
came  down  from  the  diggings  loaded  with  sacks  of  dust  weigh- 
ing from  100  to  300  pounds.  He  said  that  one  eastern  young 
man  sold  his  claim  for  §30,000  and  died  of  heart  disease  just  as 
he  was  about  to  board  the  steamer  on  the  return  trip. 

Perish  on  the  Glacier. 

Few  of  the  tales  of  hardship  endured  by  gold  seekers  in  the 
Arctic  surpass  in  thrilling  sadness  the  story  of  the  deaths  of 
Charles  A.  Blackstone,  George  Botcher  and  J.  \V.  Malinque,  ex- 
pert miners  from  Seattle,  who  were  killed  on  the  glacier  last 
April.  The  three  men  went  north  on  the  steamer  Lakme  in 
March,  1896.  For  a  tirne  they  were  at  Cook's  Inlet,  and  later 
they  went  to  Circle  City.     They  remained  in  the  district  until 


12U  STRIKE   IT   RICH    ON   KLONDIKE. 

March  of  this  year,  but  fortune  did  not  favor  them,  and  March 
25th  they  started  back  to  Seattle,  intending  to  go  to  Portage  Bay, 
an  arm  of  Prince  WiUiam  Sound.  IVIarch  27th  they  were  seen 
on  the  glacier  by  a  Mr.  Gladhouse  and  by  a  Swede  named  Peter- 
son.    They  were  never  seen  alive  afterwards. 

Before  Blackstone  left  this  city  he  asked  a  friend,  George  Hall, 
to  look  out  for  his  wife  and  family  should  anything  happen  him. 
When  word  reached  this  city  that  the  three  men  had  left  Circle 
City  and  had  not  made  connections  with  the  steamer  at  Portage 
Bay  Hall  went  to  Alaska  to  investigate.  He  easily  found  traces 
of  the  men.  They  had  lost  their  way  and  had  ascended  that 
terrible  mountain,  coming  out  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  glacier. 
Mr.  Hall  found  how  Blackstone,  Botcher  and  Malinque,  after 
searching  the  top  of  this  perpendicular  cliff,  had  crawled  under  a 

ledge  of  ice. 

Miners    Frozen    to    Death. 

The  following  statement  was  found  on  Blackstone's  body: 

"  Saturday,  April  4th  1897. — This  is  to  certify  that  Botcher 
froze  to  death  on  Tuesday  night.  J.  W.  Malinque  died  on  Wed- 
nesday forenoon,  being  frozen  so  badly.  G.  A.  Blackstone  had 
his  ears,  nose  and  four  fingers  on  his  right  hand  and  two  on  his 
left  hand  frozen  an  inch  back.  The  storm  drove  us  on  before  it. 
It  overtook  us  within  an  hour  of  the  summit  and  drove  us  before 
it.  It  drove  everything  we  had  over  the  cliff  except  blankets  and 
moose  hide,  which  we  all  crawled  under.  Supposed  to  have  been 
40  degrees  below  zero.  On  Friday  I  started  for  Salt  Water.  I 
don't  know  how  I  got  there  without  outfit.  On  Saturday  after- 
noon I  gathered  up  everything.  Have  enough  grub  for  ten 
days,  providing  bad  weather  does  not  set  in.  Sport  was  blown 
over  the  cliff.      I  think  I  can  hear  him  howl  once  in  awhile." 

The  bodies  of  Malinque  and  Botcher  were  never  found. 

H.  Juneau,  of  Dodge    City,    Kansas,  who    was    one    of  the 


STRIKE    IT   RICH    ON    KLONDIKE.  123 

founders  of  the  town  of  Juneau,  had  something  to  say  of  the 
dark  side  of  life  in  Alaska,  in  these  words : 

"  I  have  found  the  country  full  of  disappointments,  and  I  don't 
want  to  paint  the  picture  too  bright.  Enough  has  not  been  said 
of  the  dark  side. 

"  It  is  no  place  for  men  of  weak  constitution.  The  hardships 
to  be  encountered  require  the  strongest  hearts  and  sinews  as 
well. 

"  I  have  seen  nothing  published  of  the  fact  that  a  large  portion 
of  the  countr}'  is  covered  with  a  moss  and  vine  which  contains 
sharp  thorns,  like  porcupine  quills,  with  saw  edges.  These  will 
penetrate  leather  boots,  and  when  once  in  the  flesh  nothing  but  a 
knife  will  remove  them.  These  are  worse  than  the  mosquito 
pest. 

"Another  thing  which  must  not  be  overlooked  is  the  total  lack 
of  law  in  the  interior.  When  only  Indians  and  a  few  prospect- 
ors were  in  the  country  there  was  little  need  of  courts,  but  with 
the  great  influx  of  mixed  humanity  lawlessness  is  almost  sure  to 
break  out. 

"Alaska  is  a  country  on  edge.  It  is  so  mountainous.  Basins 
are  mainly  filled  with  ice.  The  weather  is  always  hard  in  great 
extremes.  Where  there  is  no  ice  there  is  moss  and  devil's  club, 
the  latter  a  vine  that  winds  around  everything  it  can  clutch. 
Persons  walking  become  entwined  in  a  network  of  moss  and 
devil's  club,  and  passage  is  extremely  difficult  and  'torturous'  as 
well  as  tortuous." 

Leave    Good    Claims    for   Better. 

The  opinion  of  Mrs.  Rli  Gage  on  the  Klondike  situation  is 
interesting  reading,  for  her  opportunities  to  know  have  been 
exceptional.     She  says  : 

"  There  are  many  clainis  along  the  best  known  creeks  that 


124 


STRIKE    IT   RICH    ON   KLONDIKE. 


have  been  abandoned.  The  prospectors  would  be  digging  on 
them  contentedly,  earning  big  money  every  day.  There  would 
then  come  a  report  from  some  neighboring  place  of  fabulously 
rich  finds,  and  there  would  follow  at  once  a  wild  rush.  In  this 
way  sites  that  paid  moderately  were  passed  in  the  search  of 
others  that  would  banish  poverty  in  a  month.  The  two  kings  of 
the  region  were  wise  enough  to  profit  by  the  craze  which  carried 


VERTICAL    SECTION    OF    A    QUARTZ    MINE. 

the  men  along,  and  they  bought  claim  after  claim  along  the 
Bonanza  and  the  Eldorado.  I  do  not  think  any  man  on  earth 
can  guess  how  mud  these  men  are  worth  to-day.  They  would 
be  millionaires  to  stay  at  home  the  balance  of  their  lives  and 
sell  interests  in  the  mines  they  now  have  in  operation. 

"  Experts  say  that  the  best  mines  are  still  to  be  found.  It  is 
an  old  saying  that  the  existence  of  the  placer  mine  merely 
shows  that  not  far  away  the  mother  rock  must  be  found.      It 


TOTEM  POLE,   FORT  WRANGEL,  ALAb. 


wiOUSAXDS  Ul    ^[..\.-^-  r...  r..Ll.  ISLAND.  ALASKA 


STRIKE    IT    RICH    ON    KLONDIKE.  12o 

looks  as  if  the  gold  in  the  loose  dirt  about  the  creeks  had  been 
brought  down  from  the  mountains  by  some  great  glacier.  The 
men  who  have  gone  in,  and  are  going  in,  have  no  capital  for 
machinery  and  the  placer  mining  is  the  only  kind  they  can 
undertake.  The  late  comers  and  the  men  with  money  for 
machinery  will  probably  search  for  quartz  veins  and  get  bigger 
fortunes  with  but  comparatively  small  expenditures.  It  is 
reported  by  government  officials  and  everybody  else  that  the 
whole  countr}'  is  gold  producing,  and  the  work  of  10,000  men 
who  will  be  able  to  get  there  within  the  next  twelve  months  will 
not  begin  to  exhaust  the  resources. 

Advice  of  a  '49er. 

No  better  words  to  close  a  chapter  on  the  "  luck  "  and  experi- 
ences of  the  Klondike  argonauts  have  been  written  than  these 
from  a  '49er  who  "  made  his  pile"  before  California  was  a  State, 
and  who  still  sympathizes  with  each  one  of  the  "thousand" 
gold  seekers  in  the  Arctic  wilds  who  believes  he  is  the  "  one  " 
who  is  predestined  to  have  fortune  thrust  upon  him  in  the  Yukon 
valley.      He  says,  this  snow-capped  veteran  of  the  early  placers : 

"  It  was  this  belief  that  encouraged  the  multitude  of  '49,  and 
populated  California  with  refugees  from  every  quarter  of  the 
globe ;  it  was  the  same  idea  that  sent  the  tide  of  a  tumultuous 
humanity  into  the  deserts  of  Nevada  to  hunt  for  silver  ;  it  was 
the  same  egotism  that  starved  on  Fraser  River  and  shivered  in 
the  blizzards  of  Cariboo  ;  it  was  the  same  spirit  that  went  up 
against  the  false  hope  of  Panamint,  and  wandered  helplessly 
across  the  hot  sands  of  Lower  California. 

"  So  it  will  be  this  time  ;  so  it  has  ever  been  from  the  going 
out  of  Ishmael  ;  and  so  it  will  ever  be  until  men  cease  to  care 
for  gold — subduing  the  love  of  riches,  which  the  wise  man  has 
said  is  the  root  of  evil. 


126  STRIKE    IT    RICH    ON    KLONDIKE. 

"  Of  course,  the  effort  to  deter  these  men  from  hazarding 
their  lives  and  risking  their  fortunes  in  the  Arctic  is  merely 
perfunctory.  Even  those  who  are  advising  that  the  wolf  of 
Unalaska  be  permitted  to  howl  undisturbed  do  not  expect  that 
the  beast  will  long  enjoy  that  privilege. 

Survival  of  the  Fittest. 

"  The  weaklings  may  perish,  as  the  advisory  Doard  of  editors 
predicts,  but  the  strength,  the  bone  and  sinew  and  the  brawn  of 
this  movement  will  pull  through,  barring  the  accident  that  the 
litany  refers  to  as  '  battle,  murder  and  sudden  death.' 

"  These  are  of  the  stuff  that  builds  commonwealths  and  per- 
petuates races  of  men.  These  are  of  the  lineage  that  followed 
the  Vikings  ;  the  ancestors  of  these  conquered  with  William 
and  crossed  the  storm-lashed  Atlantic  to  subdue  a  wilderness 
and  found  an  empire. 

"  These  are  the  kind  of  men  they  Wniit,  whether  they  return 
from  the  Yukon  burdened  with  wealth  or  as  poor  as  they  went. 
There's  good  leather  in  the  stock  that  v/iU  come  out  of  that 
frozen  desolation,  and  it  will  work  up  into  excellent  material  in 
a  land  where  energy  compels  prosperity,  and  industry  is  rewarded 
with  contentment. 

"  Suppose  it  is  true  that  hardships  must  be  endured  in  this 
quest?  Are  they  any  more  disheartening  than  those  which  the 
poor  man  faces  in  the  overcrowded  cities  ? 

"  Let  it  be  conceded  that  the  climate  is  rigorous.  The  winters 
of  Minnesota  are  almost  as  severe,  and  the  thermometer  often 
registers  as  low  in  Quebec  and  the  northern  cities  of  Europe. 

"The  climate  of  Alaska  may  be  deadly  at  certain  seasons  of 
the  year  if  the  inhabitant  exposes  himself  to  its  clemency,  but 
the  mortality  resulting  from  such  foolishness  will  not,  under  the 
most  favorable  circumstances,  equal    the  record  of  the    recent 


STRIKE    IT   RICH    ON    KLONDIKE.  127 

"hot  spell"  in   New    York,  Chicago,   St    Louis  and  throughout 
the  Middle  West. 

"As  for  starvation,  there  is  less  danger  of  that  unhappy  con- 
summation in  a  mining  camp  than  there  is  in  the  most  opulent 
'  centre  of  civilization.' 

Makes  Light  of  Journey. 

"  The  distance  and  the  difficulty  of  reaching  the  mines  of 
Alaska  have  been  urged  as  an  obstacle  to  be  seriously  considered 
by  those  who  contemplate  this  adventure. 

"  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  a  less  arduous  journey  from  New 
York  to  Dawson  City  than  from  Sandy  Hook  to  Johannesburg. 
Steamers  comfortably  fitted  are  plying  between  San  Francisco  and 
St.  Michael's,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yukon,  and  thence  to  Klondike. 

"  The  voyage  is  long,  true,  and  somewhat  expensive  ;  but, 
aside  from  these  natural  consequences  of  a  trip  to  the  Arctic, 
there  is  no  valid  reason  why  anyone  who  wishes  to  go  there 
should  be  discouraged. 

"As  for  the  tedium  of  the  voyage,  that  can  be  endured  in 
anticipation  of  the  varied  excitement  that  awaits  the  traveler  at 
the  end  of  his  journey,  and  the  expense  that  may  attend  the  trip 
must  be  hopefully  borne  in  the  certainty  of  a  manifold  return 
when  the  industry  and  ability  of  the  adventurer  is  put  to  the 
test  in  the  land  of  the  long  twilight. 

"  The  most  encouraging  information  that  has  come  out  of  the 
north  with  the  homing  millionaires  is  the  assertion  that  a  miner 
in  Alaska  does  not  need  to  know  anything  about  mining.  If  all 
accounts  are  accurate,  in  fact  the  less  a  man  knows  about  '  for- 
mations,' '  strata,'  '  deposits,'  or  '  dips,  spurs,  and  angles,'  the 
more  likely  he  will  be  to  strike  it  rich." 

"  It  is  the  tenderfoot  who  finds  the  plethoric  '  pockets  '  of  the 
Klondike  placers.     As  soon  as  he  has  been  in  the  country  long 


128  STRIKE    IT   RICH    ON    KLONDIKE. 

enough  to  think  he  knows  all  about  it,  his  'luck'  forsakes  him 
and  it  is  time  for  him  to  come  home.  The  '  tip '  of  a  Freiberg 
expert  on  the  Yukon  isn't  worth  the  icicles  on  his  Vandyke 
Touting  on  the  sixty-fourth  degree  of  north  latitude  is  not  aL 
absolute  as  it  is  at  Ingleside. 

"  A  great  many  people  are  encouraged  to  believe  that  the 
stories  of  hardships  and  privation  in  the  diggings  are  exaggerated 
because  several  women  have  weathered  an  Arctic  winter — some 
of  them  have  lived  for  two  and  three  years  in  Circle  City  and  St. 
Michael's.  But  this  is  no  criterion  of  a  possible  mildness  of  cli- 
mate in  that  region. 

"  Last  season  a  woman  old  enough  to  admit  her  age  climbed 
Mount  Shasta,  and,  within  a  thousand  feet  of  the  apex,  was  com- 
pelled to  shame  the  young  men  of  the  party  into  renewed  exer- 
tion by  guying  them  on  their  lack  of  pluck  and  endurance.  The 
circumstance  that  women  can  withstand  the  rigor  of  the  Arctic 
is  no  evidence  that  a  man  would  not  succumb  to  it,  for  it  is  a 
physiological  fact  that  women  may  display  a  more  commendable 
fortitude  under  stress  than  her  masculine  congener. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
How  To  Get  There. 

Main  Routes  to  the  Klondike — By  Water  and  Land — Voyage  via  St.  Michael's 
— Trip  Up  the  Yukon — Choice  of  Trails  via  Juneau  and  Dyea — In  by 
Chilkoot  Pass — Over  the  Chilkat — The  White  Pass  Route— Lieutenant 
Schwatka's  Trail  via  Taku — By  Way  of  Fort  Wrangel  and  Lake  Teslin 
^Railroads  Suggested — The  "Back  Door"  Route — Up  the  Copper 
River— By  Moose  Factory  and  Chefterfield  Inlet — Other  Trails— Tele- 
graph and  Telephone — Postal  Service — Outfits  for  Miners — List  of 
Necessaries. 

THOUGH  in  a  sense  all  roads  lead  to  the  Klondike,  the 
gold-seeker  does  not  become  especially  interested  in  a 
choice  of  routes  until  he  reaches  the  Pacific  seaboard. 
Then.  Ahcther  he  be  at  San  Frascisco,  Portland,  Seattle,  Tacoma 
or  Vi(  toria,  the  problem  of  "  how  to  get  there  "  becomes  an 
engrossing  one.  Time,  money  and  danger  and  the  season  of 
the  year  must  all  be  considered,  and  the  question  is  too  often 
more  perplexing  than  the  unposted  traveler  can  successfully 
grapple  alone  and  hope, to  get  the  best  solution.  At  the  present 
time,  in  addition  to  the  established  routes,  there  are  dozens  of 
projected  transportation  schemes  in  the  air,  all  possible  to 
develop  into  untility  on  short  no' ice.  The  wise  argonaut, 
then,  when  settling  upon  his  itinerary,  will  consult  the  latest 
sources  of  information — railroad  and  steamship  literature  and 
the  folders  and  guides  of  land  transportation  concerns — and 
make  up  his  mind  accordingly. 

Two  Main   Routes. 

In  a  general  way  there  are  two  main  routes  into  the  gold  fields 
— the  one  entirely  by  water,  via  St.  Michael's  and  the  Yukon  ; 
9  '  129 


130  HOW   TO   GET  THERK. 

the  other  by  water  and  land,  via  steamer  to  Fort  Wrangel  or 
Juneau,  and  then  over  the  passes  and  down  the  rivers  to  Daw- 
son City. 

The  former  is  only  available  during  the  "  open  "  season,  for 
the  Yukon  River,  throughout  the  greater  portion  of  its  course, 
is  closed  by  ice  from  September  to  May.  When  the  river  is 
open,  however,  this  route,  though  the  longest  in  point  of  time  and 
distance,  has  certain  advantages,  especially  in  the  line  of  comforts, 
for  it  avoids  the  hazards  of  the  mountain  passes  and  the  perils 
of  the  inland  rapids,  as  well  as  the  arduous  labor  of  the 
portages  as  yet  inseparable  from  the  overland  routes  ;  and  the 
traveler  is  reasonably  sure  of  three  "  square  "  meals  daily  and  a 
warm,  dry  bed  at  night.  To  people  who  have  money  and 
reasonable  leisure,  and  who  are  not  used  to  roughing  it,  these 
are  advantages  not  to  be  lightly  foregone. 

On    The    Overland. 

The  latter,  the  overland  route,  is  shorter  in  time  and  distance, 
but  more  laborious,  and,  if  the  traveler  has  much  of  an  outfit, 
and  the  "boom"  prices  for  "packing"  keep  up,  not  less 
expensive  than  the  water  way.  It  has  the  somewhat  dubious 
advantage,  as  things  are  now,  of  being  measurably  "  open  "  all 
the  year  round.  But  to  those  who  know  what  a  mountain 
pass  in  Arctic  weather  means — rain,  snow,  hail,  mud,  ice, 
glaciers,  fords,  upsets,  wrecks,  perilous  days  of  Sisyphean 
toil  and  deadly  nights  in  sodden  clothing  on  frosty  beds — there 
will  easily  be  apparent  the  dark  side  of  the  overland  route.  By 
St.  Michael's  and  the  Yukon,  the  traveler  will  find  most  things 
done  for  him  ;  by  the  mountain  passes  and  the  upper  rivers  he 
will  have  to  do  most  things  for  himself  and  the  "  tenderfoot  "  is 
apt  to  find  his  troubles  multiply  as  he  presses  forward,  till  only 
the  most  stalwart  and   the  stoutest    hearted  will   gret   throus^h   to 


HOW  TO   GET  THERE,  131 

the  modern  Ophir  with  heart  or  health  to  seek  the  fortunes 
hidden  in  the  gravel. 

There  is  still  another  overland  route  than  those  via  Juneau, 
Dyea,  or  Wrangel.  It  is  termed  expressively  the  "  back-door" 
route  or  "  inside  track,"  and  is  simply  the  old  Hudson  Bay  trunk 
line  to  the  North.  It  goes  from  Calgary,  in  Alberta,  by  railroad, 
stage  or  wagon,  and  cafion  to  Fort  Macpherson  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Mackenzie  River,  and  then  by  the  Peel  River,  leading  south- 
ward to  the  gold  fields. 

The  time  via  St.  Michael's  is  from  thirty-five  to  sixty  days  in 
the  summer  season  ;  via  Juneau,  Dyea  or  Wrangei,  from  sixty 
days  upward  according  to  the  season  ;  by  the  "back  door"  route 
from  sixty  to  ninety  days. 

Sailing  to  St.  Michael's. 

St.  Michael's  may  be  reached  by  the  steamers  of  any  of  the 
great  commercial  companies  from  San  Francisco  or  Seattle, 
though  up  to  the  present  time  the  bulk  of  the  transportation 
business  has  been  in  the  hands  of  the  North  American  and  the 
Alaska  companies,  the  old-time  rivals  for  the  trade  of  the  Yukon 
country.  The  former  owns  the  stores  along  the  Yukon  River, 
and  has  been  a  practical  monopoly  except  where  it  has  come  in 
contact  with  the  agents  of  the  Alaska  Commercial  Company. 

Dutch  Harbor,  in  the  Aleutian  Archipelago,  is  the  first  port 
made  on  he  outward  trip  to  St.  Michael's.  Here  the  company 
owning  the  sealing  privilege  on  the  Pribyloff  Islands  has  a  coal- 
ing and  supply  station.  It  is  1800  miles  on  the  way  to  the  gold 
fields.  Then  away  to  the  north,  800  miles  through  Behring  Sea 
and  past  the  seal  islands  to  St.  Michael's.  The  journey  has  so 
far  been  a  pleasant  one,  unless  the  weather  has  been  stormy. 
The  one  great  peril  of  this  route  lies  in  that  portion  of  the  sea 
known  as  "  the  Boneyard  of  the  Pacific,"  from  the  vast  number 


132  HOW   TO   GET  THERE. 

of  ships  which  have  gone  down  beneath  its  treacherous  surface, 
and  which  is  still  one  of  the  most  dangerous  spots  known  to 
northern  navigators.  This  once  passed,  the  other  nazards  of  the 
long  voyage  can  happily  be  made  light  of 

On  St.  Michael's  Island. 

St.  Michael's,  on  the  island  of  the  same  name,  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Yukon,  used  to  be  a  Russian  fortification,  and  some  of  the 
old  Russian  buildings  are  still  standing ;  but  for  many  years  it 
has  been  the  transfer  and  forwarding  point  for  all  goods  going 
into  or  coming  out  of  the  interior.  Both  the  commercial  com- 
panies doing  business  on  the  river  have  warehouses  here.  During 
the  two  or  three  months  of  open  navigation  it  is  a  place  of  con- 
siderable activity.  Then  communication  is  cut  off,  and  it  goes 
into  the  long,  uneventful  night  of  winter. 

The  inhabitants  of  St.  Michael's  are  the  white  resident  employes 
of  the  companies,  the  collector  of  customs,  several  missionaries, 
and  a  number  of  traders.  There  are  several  hundred  Eskimos 
on  the  island.  The  surface  of  the  country  immediately  sur- 
rounding St.  Michael's  is  gently  rolling,  and  in  summer  it  is 
covered  with  a  great  growth  of  grass,  having  more  the  appear- 
ance of  Nebraska  prairies  than  of  an  Arctic  region.  A  series  of 
six  or  seven  low,  cone-shaped  hills  across  the  shallow  estuary 
are  extinct  volcanoes.  In  all  the  landscape  there  is  no  timber, 
nor  are  there  trees  anywhere  near  Behring  Sea. 

At  St.  Michael's  passengers  and  freight  are  transferred  from 
the  ocean  liners  to  the  river  steamers.  These  run  down  the 
coast  sixty  miles  to  the  north  mouth  of  the  great  Yukon,  a  river 
larger  than  the  Mississippi  and  navigable  for  boats  of  light  draught 
for  2300  miles  above  its  mouth,  and  there  begins  the  long  journey 
up  stream  to  Dawson  City  and  the  golden  placers. 

The  source  of  tlje  Yukon  is  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  in  British 


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HOW    TO    GE'l    THERE.  138 

teiritory,  at  a  point  northeast  of  Sitka.  The  river  drain.s  prac- 
tically the  same  territory  in  its  headwaters  as  the  Stickine,  Peace, 
Columbia  and  Frazer  rivers,  all  well  known  for  many  years  to 
treasure-hunters  because  of  the  great  placers  in  their  valleys.  It 
was  natural,  therefore,  to  expect  that  gold  would  be  found  along 
the  main  channel  of  the  Yukon  or  some  of  its  tributaries.  E.\- 
plorers  were  sent  out  from  two  bases.  One  set  went  up  the  river 
from  its  mouth,  traversing  the  whole  of  Alaska  from  the  west  to 
east. 

Fine  gold  dust,  in  small  quantities,  was  found  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Porcupine  River,  a  stream  that  joins  the  Yukon  about  loo 
miles  west  of  the  boundary,  and  also  near  the  mouth  of  Fort}-- 
Mile  Creek,  most  of  whose  course  lies  in  Alaska,  but  which 
crosses  into  British  territory  before  emptying  into  the  big  river. 
Fort  Cudahy  is  situated  here,  and  Circle  City,  where  there  were 
other  mining  camps,  is  about  fifty  miles  further  west.  These 
places  are  about  800  or  900  miles  from  the  sea,  if  one  travels  by 
steamboat,  and  in  the  winter  are  completely  cut  off  from  the  outer 
world.  The  discoveries  above  the  Porcupine  are  the  cause  of  the 
present  rush  of  gold  hunters — they  are  the  richest  placers  in  the 
world. 

Stop  at  Fort  Yukon. 

The  first  point  of  more  than  passing  importance  on  the  journey 
up  the  river  is  Fort  Yukon,  a  misnomer  as  to  the  "  Fort,"  as  is 
the  case  with  all  the  stations  on  the  lower  river.  As  stations  in 
the  wilderness,  most  trading  posts  were  fortified  after  a  fashion 
in  the  early  days,  and  this  custom  led  to  dignifying  them  by  the 
term  "  fort."  Fort  Yukon  was  established  by  Robert  Bell  as  a 
post  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  he  assuming  that  it  was  in 
Canadian  territory.  He  made  a  mistake  of  300  miles,  measured 
by  the  river.  Hudson  Bay  Company  held  the  post  until  it  was 
warned  away  by  an  American  officer. 


134  HOW   TO    GET  THERE. 

Here  the  argonaut  finds  himself  fairly  under  the  Arctic  circle. 
In  June  and  July  he  will  see  the  sun  twenty-four  hours  without 
a  break,  and  all  along  the  river  at  this  time  he  can  read  a  paper 
at  any  time  of  day  or  night  without  a  lamp. 

Above  Fort  Yukon  is  the  once  important  town  of  Circle  City, 
formerly  a  mail  station  and  a  thriving  post,  but  now  practically 
depopulated  by  the  stampede  to  the  Klondike  gold  fields,  higher 
up  the  stream.  Circle  City  stands  on  a  dead-level  plain,  twenty 
feet  higher  than  the  river  at  the  ordinary  stage  of  water.  In  the 
distant  background  is  a  low  range  of  purple  hills,  which  marks 
the  dividing  line  between  the  Birch  Creek  district  and  the  river. 
On  the  opposite  side  from  the  town  the  river  runs  away  into  space, 
with  no  very  well  defined  shore  line. 

It  is  a  town  of  log  huts,  square  and  low,  with  wide  projecting 
eaves  and  dirt  roofs.  Two  men  would  get  out  the  logs,  build 
the  cabin  and  "  chink  "  it  with  the  abundant  moss  in  two  weeks  ; 
and  before  the  Klondike  fever  such  a  house  would  rent  for  fif- 
teen dollars  a  month  (in  gold  dust)  or  sell  for  ^500.  But  the 
inhabitants  have  fled  and  most  of  the  cabins  are  empty.  From 
the  present  outlook  hardly  a  dozen  white  persons,  and  perhaps 
a  dozen  Indians,  will  be  left  in  the  town  during  the  coming 
ivinter.  In  April  it  had  i  500  white  residents.  It  also  had  dogs, 
unlimited  quantities  of  them,  worse  pests  than  mosquitos,  but 
the  call  for  dogs  in  "packing"  miners'  outfits  over  the  south- 
eastern passes  materially  reduced  the  supply.  A  good  dog  is 
v^orth  $100  in  dust  in  Circle  City. 

Gold  on  Birch  Creek  Claim. 

The  rich  discoveries  of  gold  on  Mammoth  and  Mastodon 
Creeks  and  many  gulches  which  terminate  in  these  creeks  all 
tributaries  of  Birch  Creek,  "just  over  the  divide,"  gave  Circle 
City  its  first  boom.     Many  wise  men  among  the  miners  prophesy 


HOW   TO    GET  TIIERK.  135 

that  when  the  surrounding  country  is  carefully  prospected,  its 

diggings  will   be  found  equal  to  the  Klondike,  and  Circle  City 

will  again  become  a  formidable  rival  of  Dawson  City. 

At  Forty-Mile,  or  Fort  Cudahy,  across   the  JKHindary  line  in 

the    British   territory,  the   next  important  stop,   some  gold  was 

found  by  the  expedition  mentioned  heretofore.      This  place  was 

named   for  John   Cudahy,  of  Chicago,  of  the  North   American 

Transportation   and  Trading  Company,  and   was  for  years  the 

company's  headquarters  on  the  upper  river.     It  contains  about 

200  log  cabins  of  the  prevailing  Yukon  style — square,  low,  flat, 

and  dirt-roofed — the  companies  offices,  a  fjw  stores  and  saloons, 

and  a  hotel  or  two.      Whiskey  is  worth   ten   dollars  a  quart,  or 

fifty  cents   a   drink,  and  half  a  dollar  will  buy  three  loaves  of 

Yukon  bread. 

Arrive  At  Dawson  City. 

Passing  Fort  Reliance,  the  next  stop  is  Dawson  City,  the 
metropolis  of  the  gold  fields,  the  Mecca  of  the  'p/er,  the  thres- 
hold of  the  Klondike  treasure  house.  This  new  town  and  trad- 
ing post,  though  barely  six  months  old,  is  already  the  busiest 
town  on  the  river.  "  Old  Joe  "  Ladue,  as  he  is  locally  and 
unappropriately  named,  for  he  is  not  old  at  all,  the  owner  of  the 
town  site,  was  being  kept  busy  selling  town  lots  at  ^5000  each 
when  he  made  up  his  mind  last  summer  to  run  back  to  New 
York  and  claim  for  his  bride  the  sweetheart  who  had  been  wait- 
ing for  him  to  "  make  a  stake  "  under  the  Midnight  Sun. 

There  were  said  to  be  3000  people  in  Dawson  City  in  July 
and  that  number  has  been  greatly  increased  since  by  the  influx 
of  men  with  the  gold  fever  who  had  had  prescribed  "  Klondike 
refrigeration"  as  a  remedy  for  the  almost  hopeless  malad)', 
Dawson  City  will  probably  have  to  winter  12,000  to  16,000 
people,  and  there  has  been  general  fear  that  there  would  be  great 
suffering  there  this  winter  in  consequence  of  lack  of  supplies  and 


136  HOW   TO   GET  THERE. 

shelter  for  the  great  rush  of  unprepared  prospectors.  And 
winter  at  Dawson  City  begins  in  September.  However,  strenu- 
ous effort  was  made  up  to  the  last  moment  by  the  commercial 
companies  to  get  in  provisions  against  a  possible  famine,  and  as 
many  of  the  later  argonauts  carried  in  fairly  good  and  liberal 
outfits,  it  is  hoped  the  long  season  of  cold  may  pass  without 
general  disaster. 

A  miner  who  came  in  on  one  of  the  late  steamers,  described 
Dawson  City  as  wild  with  speculation.      He  said  : 

"  Speculation  is  already  the  ruling  idea.  A  purchaser  inspects 
a  claim  that  he  thinks  he  would  like  to  buy.  He  offers  just 
what  he  thinks  it  is  worth.  There  is  no  skirmishing  over 
figures  ;  the  owner  accepts  or  refuses,  and  that  is  the  end  of  it. 
With  this  claim  goes  the  season's  work.  By  that  I  mean  the 
great  pile  of  earth  that  may  contain  thousands  or  may  not  be 
worth  the  expense  necessary  to  run  it  through  the  sluice.  That 
is  a  chance  one  must  take,  however,  and  few  have  lost  anything 
by  it  this  season. 

"  It  may  be  said  with  absolute  truth  that  Dawson  City  is  one 
of  the  most  moral  towns  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  There  is 
little  or  no  quarreling,  and  no  brawls  of  any  kind,  though  there 
is  considerable  drinking  and  gambling.  Every  man  carries  a 
pistol  if  he  wishes  to,  yet  few  do,  and  it  is  a  rare  occurrence 
when  one  is  displayed. 

Around  The   Gaming   Table. 

"  The  principal  sport  with  the  mining  men  is  found  around 
the  gambling  table.  There  they  gather  after  nightfall  and  play 
until  late  hours  in  the  morning.  They  have  some  big  games,  too, 
it  sometimes  costing  as  much  as  fifty  dollars  to  draw  a  card.  A 
game  of  ^2000  as  the  stakes  is  an  ordinary  event.  But  with  all 
that,  there  has  not  been  any  decided  trouble.     If  a  man  is  fussy 


138  HOW    TO    GET  THERE. 

and  quarrelsome,  he  is  quietly  told  to  get  out  of  the  game,  and 
that  is  the  end  of  it. 

"  Many  people  have  an  idea  that  Dawson  City  is  completely 
isolated,  and  can  communicate  with  the  outside  world  only  once 
every  twelve  months.  That  is  a  mistake.  Circle  City,  only  a  few 
miles  away,  has  a  mail  once  each  month,  and  there  we  have  our 
mail  addressed.  It  is  true,  the  cost  is  pretty  high — a  dollar  a  let- 
ter and  two  dollars  for  paper — yet  by  that  expenditure  of  money 
we  are  able  to  keep  in  direct  communication  with  our  friends  on 
the  outside. 

[The  Canadian  authorities  have  since  established  a  post-office 
at  Dawson  City,  with  regular  service. — Ed.] 

In  the  way  of  public  institutions,  our  camp  is  at  present  with- 
out any,  but  by  the  next  season  we  will  have  a  church,  a  music 
hall,  school-house  and  hospital.  This  last  institution  will  be 
under  the  direct  control  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy,  who  have 
already  been  stationed  for  a  long  time  at  Circle  City  and  Forty- 
Mile  Camp." 

Mines  Not  At  Dawson. 

The  general  impression  that  the  mines  are  at  Dawson  City  is 
erroneous.  They  are  twelve  to  fifteen  miles  up  the  Klondike 
River,  and  are  easily  reached  by  poling  up  the  stream  in  summer 
or  sledding  over  its  frozen  surface  in  winter. 

Dawson  City  is  under  the  British  Government,  and  its  laws 
are  enforced  by  the  famous  mounted  police. 

Inspector  Strickland,  of  the  Canadian  mounted  police,  who 
came  down  from  Alaska  on  the  Portland,  said  : 

"  When  I  left  Dawson  City  there  were  800  claims  staked  out. 
We  can  safely  say  that  there  was  about  51,500,000  in  gold 
mined  last  winter.  The  wages  in  the  mines  were  fifteen  dollars 
a  day,  and  the  saw  mill  paid  laborers  ten  dollars  a  day. 

"  The  claims  now  staked  out  will  afford  employment  to  about 


HOW   TO    GET    rHP:RE.  139 

5000  men,  I  believe.  If  a  man  is  strong,  healthy  and  wants 
work  he  can  find  employment  at  good  wages.  Several  men 
worked  on  an  interest,  or  what  is  termed  a  "  lay,"  and  during 
the  winter  realized  $5000  to  $10,000  each.  The  mines  are 
from  thirty-five  to  100  miles  from  the  Alaska  boundary'. " 

Inspector  Strickland  paid  the  miners  at  Dawson  City  a  com- 
pliment, saying  "  they  do  not  act  like  people  who  have  suddenly 
jumped  from  poverty  to  comparative  wealth.  They  are  very 
level  headed.  They  go  to  the  best  hotels  and  live  on  the  fat  of 
the  land,  but  they  do  not  throw  money  away,  and  no  one  starts 
in  to  paint  the  town  red." 

Price  List  at    Dawson. 

He  gave  the  following  price  list  as  a  sample  of  the  cost  of  living 
in  Dawson  City  :  Flour,  $  1 2  per  hundredweight.  Following  are 
prices  per  pound:  Moose  ham,  $1  ;  caribou  meat,  65  cents; 
beans,  10  cents;  rice,  25  cents;  sugar,  25  cents;  bacon,  40 
cents;  potatoes,  25  cents;  turnips,  15  cents;  coffee,  50  cents; 
dried  fruits,  3  5  cents  ;  tea,  $  i  ;  tobacco,  $  i .  50  ;  butter,  a  roll,  $1.50; 
eggs,  a  dozen,  $1.50;  salmon,  each,  $1  to  $1.50;  canned  fruits, 
50  cents  ;  canned  meats,  75  cents  ;  liquors,  per  drink,  50  cents  ; 
shovels,  $2.50;  picks,  $5  ;  coal  oil,  per  gallon,  $i  ;  overalls, 
$1.50;  underwear,  per  suit,  $5  to  $7.50;  shoes,  $5;  rubber 
boots,  $10  to  $15. 

The  latest  reports  are  that  these  figures  are  still  maintained, 
despite  the  great  amount  of  supplies  brought  in  by  the  commer- 
cial companies,  and  it  is  expected  they  will  go  higher  rather  than 
lower  before  spring  comes  around  again. 

Whisky  is  fifty  cents  a  drink,  and  some  of  the  saloons  are  said 
to  be  making  $6000  to  $8000  a  day.  There  is  some  gambling, 
though  not  of  a  bloodthirsty  kind,  and  chips  are  commonly  $500 
a  "  stack." 


140  HOW   TO   GET  THERE. 

Should  the  argonaut  decide  to  go  in  by  the  Juneau  and  Dyea, 
or  "  mountain"  routes,  he  will  find  the  trail  by  Chilkoot  Pass  the 
one  most  talked  of,  and  will  probably  this  fall  decide  to  try  his 
fortunes  by  that  way,  though  the  spring  and  perhaps  the  winter 
even  may  find  the  Chilkat,  the  Taku  and  the  White  Pass  routes, 
or  even  the  Lake  Teslin  trail,  becoming  favorites. 

Right  here  the  gold-hunter,  having  fixed  on  his  route,  needs 
to  make  very  sure  of  one  other  thing — his  "  outfit."  When 
he  leaves  Dyea  or  Juneau  he  leaves  civilization  and  all  its  adjuncts 
of  stores  and  traders  behind  him.  From  Dyea  to  Dawson  he 
must  depend  on  his  outfit  for  practically  everything  he  has  to 
eat,  drink  and  wear  and  for  every  tool  and  appliance  with  which 
to  build  or  repair  any  article  needed  for  the  long  journey  by  trail 
and  stream,  700  miles,  to  Dawson. 

Via  Chilkoot  Pass. 

If  the  "  outfit"  is  all  right,  the  prospector  engages  Indians  at 
Dyea  to  pack  his  goods  in  a  dugout  and  tow  them  to  the  head 
of  canoe  navigation  on  the  Dyea  River  which  is  about  six  miles. 
If  possible  the  Indians  should  be  hired  to  pack  the  goods  over 
the  Chilkoot  Pass  to  Lake  Linderman,  about  twenty-two  or 
twenty-three  miles.  The  old  rate  for  this  work  was  from  five  to 
sixteen  cents  a  pound,  but  the  great  stampede  of  prospectors  has 
caused  the  price  to  rise  to  twenty -one  and  even  twenty-two  cents, 
and  even  at  that  almost  prohibitive  figure  it  is  often  impossible 
for  prospectors  to  hire  native  carriers,  and  as  a  result  they  have 
to  pack  their  outfits  over  themselves.  A  Chilkoot  Indian  will 
carry  from  250  to  300  pounds  over  the  pass,  but  even  the 
strongest  white  man  can  "  tote "  little  more  than  100  pounds, 
and  consequently  when  the  Indians  fail  him,  has  to  make  "  double 
trips,"  that  is,  take  a  pack  a  mile  or  two,  cache  it  and  return  for 
another  one,  and  keep  this  tedious  and   heart  burning  labor  up 


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HOW   TO   GET  THERE.  141 

until  the  last  article  has  been  wearily  (h'opped  on  the  shores  of 
Lake  Linderman. 

Many  pack  horses  have  been  taken  to  Dyea  for  use  on  the 
Chilkoot  Pass  trail,  and  dogs  are  also  to  be  experimented  with 
this  winter  hi  hauling  supplies. 

From  the  head  of  canoe  navigation  a  well-defined  trail  leads 
to  the  cafion  at  the  summit.  The  first  day's  camp  is  made  at  the 
entrance  to  the  canon  ;  the  next  day's  camp  is  well  along  in  thr.t 
formidable  pass  at  a  natural  curiosity  known  as  the  "  Stone 
House,"  a  much  frequented  camping  ground  for  packers.  Thc 
place  affords  good  shelter  in  stormy  weather  and,  as  it  is  ver)' 
frequently  impossible  to  cross  the  Divide  on  stormy  days,  pack- 
ers have  here  a  good  place  to  wait  for  fair  weather  before  attempt- 
ing the  fearful  toil  of  the  ascent. 

An  early  start  is  necessary  in  crossing  the  Divide,  the  great 
Peraier  Glacier,  for  it  is  urgent  that  the  march  should  be  made 
in  one  day  in  order  to  camp  three  or  four  miles  beyond  the 
Divide,  where  there  are  sticks  and  moss  for  a  fire. 

Passing  the   Divide. 

Dr.  E.  O.  Crewe  describes  the  "passing"  in  these  graphic 
words  : 

"  Having  arriv^ed  at  the  foot  of  the  now  almost  perpendicular 
mountain  of  ice  and  half  thawed  snow,  we  struggle  upwards,  some- 
times up  to  our  knees  in  slush,  sometimes  clingmg  with  hands  and 
feet  to  the  slippery  mountain.  Zigzagging  from  one  side  to  the 
other  until  about  half  way  up  the  ascent  we  drop  our  packs  and 
survey  the  remainder  of  our  journey  up  the  glacier.  On  our  left 
hand  further  progress  is  impossible  ;  a  perpendicular  wall  of  deep 
blue  ice  towers  up  a  thousand  feet  above  the  actual  pass  ;  on  our 
right,  we  notice  a  pile  of  broken  rocks  that  have  crumbled  from 
the  cliff  that  forms  the  riiiht  hand  side  of  the  caiion.     Towards 


142  HOW   TO   GET  THERE. 

these  rocks  we  slowly  pick  our  way,  over  which  we  slowly  wend 
towards  the  base  of  the  the  cliff,  and,  having  gained  this  com- 
paratively comfortable  foothold,  our  progress  is  quite  easy  and 
fairly  rapid.  Ever  keeping  along  the  base  of  the  cliff,  ever  get- 
ting nearer  the  crest  of  the  ridge,  we  have  little  difficulty  in 
managing  our  somewhat  bulky  pack,  and  almost  before  we  are 
aware  of  it  we  have  crossed  the  Divide  and  are  over  the  most 
laborious  part  of  our  journey. 

Off   For    Lake    Linderman. 

"  Of  course,  if  more  thaa  one  trip  is  necessary  the  assent  will 
consume  much  more  time.  One  should  easily  make  the  journey 
from  Dyea  to  Lake  Linderman  in  three  days  with  an  ordinary 
pack  if  '  double  tripping  '  is  unnecessary.  After  resting  awhile 
on  the  summit  of  Chilkoot  Pass,  admiring  the  magnificent 
grandeur  of  the  scene  we  begin  our  decent  to  the  lake  ;  turning 
a  little  towards  the  left  after  coming  over  the  divide  we  follow 
the  trend  of  the  hills  which  lead  us  down  towards  the  North 
and  we  are  very  soon  able  to  see  Crater  Lake  (the  actual  source 
of  the  Yukon).  Skirting  the  right  hand  shore  of  this  lake,  we 
soon  find  ourselves  in  a  well  defined  ravine,  with  a  well  worn 
trail  running  down  the  right  hand  side  of  the  little  stream  that 
finds  its  way  from  Crater  Lake  and  empties  into  Lake  Linder- 
man. As  soon  as  we  find  a  convenient  place  to  pitch  our  tent, 
we  make  ready  for  camping,  and  thoroughly  enjoy  a  hearty  meal 
followed  by  a  well-earned  refreshing  sleep.  The  following  morn- 
ing, as  early  as  possible,  we  break  camp  and  start  with  our  pack 
toward  Lake  Linderman.  A  few  hours  of  easy  walking  will 
bring  us  to  the  lake,  where  we  must  at  once  break  camp  and 
prepare  to  go  the  balance  of  the  way  by  water." 

The  next  thing,  after  getting  safely  over  the  pass,  is  to  build  a 
boat.      Four  men  who  are  handv  with  tools  can  take  a  standing 


HOW  TO   GET  THERE.  143 

» 
Spruce,  saw  out  lumber  and  build  a  boat  large  enough  to  carry 

them  and  their  4000  pounds  of  provisions  all  in  a  week.  It 
should  be  a  good,  staunch  boat,  for  there  are  storms  to  be  en- 
countered on  the  lakes,  and  rapids,  moreover,  that  would  shake 
a  frail  craft  to  pieces.  The  boat  should  have  a  sail  that  could  be 
raised  and  lowered  conveniently. 

Some  enterprising  men  have  built  a  saw  mill  on  the  shores  of 
Lake  Linderman,  and  sell  boats  or  lumber.  A  boat  large  enough 
for  four  men  and  their  outfits  costs  $j^.  Lumber  is  worth  ;^ioo 
a  1000  feet,  and  500  feet  is  enough  for  a  boat. 

From  the  end  of  navigation  on  Lake  Linderman  a  trail  leads 
over  to  Lake  Bennett,  making  a  portage  of  a  mile  and  a  half 
There  is  a  river  between  the  lakes,  but  the  rapids  are  so  danger- 
ous none  but  the  most  fool-hardy  attempt  to  run  them,  and  many 
lives  and  a  great  amount  of  property  have  been  lost  in  the  reck- 
less ventures.  Some  gold-hunters  who  go  in  by  Chilkoot  Pass 
make  a  raft  at  Lake  Linderman,  sail  it  down  to  the  portage  and 
abandon  it  there,  and  carry  their  goods  to  Lake  Bennett,  where 
there  is  excellent  timber  for  boat  building. 

Down   Lake  Bennett. 

With  boat  built  one  starts  from  the  head  of  Lake  Bennett  on 
the  last  stage  of  the  trip — a  sail  of  600  miles  down  stream  (not 
counting  lakes)  to  Dawson  Cit}-,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Klondike. 
With  fair  weather,  at  the  evening  of  the  second  day,  one  reaches 
Miles  cafion,  the  beginning  of  the  worst  piece  of  water  on  the 
trip.  The  voyager  has  passed  through  Lake  Bennett  and  Takish 
and  Marsh  lakes.  At  the  head  of  Miles  cafion  begins  three 
miles  of  indiscribably  rough  water,  which  terminate  in  White 
Horse  Rapids. 

During  the  rush  of  gold-hunters  it  is  probable  there  will  be 
men  at   Miles  canon   who  will   make  a  business   of  takinj?  boats 


144     .  HOW   TO   GET  THERE. 

through  the  rapids,  and  unless  one  is  an  experienced  river  man 
it  is  economy  to  pay  a  few  dollars  for  such  service,  rather  than 
to  take  the  greater  chances  of  losing  an  outfit  or  even  a  life,  for 
many  have  been  drowned  at  this  passage.  Probably  ten  per 
cent,  of  the  men  who  attempt  the  rapids  are  drowned. 

Even  lowering  an  empty  boat  through  the  rapids,  with  a  rope 
fastened  to  each  end  of  it,  very  often  results  in  the  loss  of  the 
boat,  which  is  at  this  point  of  our  journey  exceedingly  valualile. 

In  Miles  Canon. 

Miles  Canon,  which  is  also  called  Grand  Cafion,  is  the  first 
dangerous  water  that  the  navigator  encounters.  Although  this 
section  of  the  river  has  a  normal  width  of  more  than  200  yards, 
it  is  confined  for  a  distance  of  three-quarters  of  a  mile  to  a  space 
hardly  fifty  feet  across,  with  perpendicular  walls  of  red  volcanic 
rock.  This  canon  is  broken  in  one  place — about  midway — by 
a  circular  enlargement  of  the  channel,  which  causes  a  whirlpool 
of  wonderful  suction  on  each  side  of  the  river. 

After  the  rapids  comes  Lake  LaBarge,  a  beautiful  sheet  of 
water  thirty-five  miles  long,  and  in  this  connection  a  suggestion 
is  desirable.  Near  the  foot  of  the  lake,  on  the  left  side,  is  a 
creek  coming  in  which  marks  a  good  game  country.  A  year 
ago,  and  in  previous  seasons,  moose,  were  plentiful  there  and  in 
the  rugged  mountains  near  the  head  of  the  lake  there  always 
have  been  good  hunting  grounds  for  mountain  sheep.  A  delay 
of  a  week  either  in  this  locality  or  almost  any  of  the  small 
streams  that  flow  into  the  succeeding  200  miles  of  river,  for  the 
purpose  of  laying  in  a  good  supply  of  fresh  meat,  is  worth  con- 
sidering. Moose  meat  that  can  be  preserved  until  cold  weather 
sets  in  will  sell  for  a  fancy  price. 

There  is  another  suggestion  to  consider  before  arriving  at 
Si.xty-mile.      All  along  that  part  of  the  rixcr  are   m.:ny  timbered 


HOW   TO    GET  THERE.  145 

islands,  covered  with  tall,  straight  spruce.  With  such  au  influx 
of  prospcctor-s  as  is  expected  at  Dawson  City  before  winter 
begins,  building  logs  will  be  in  great  demand.  Cabin  logs  ten 
inches  in  diameter  and  twenty  feet  long  sold  at  Circle  City  last 
year,  in  raft,  at  three  dollars  each.  With  an  increased  demand, 
and  with  better  mines,  the  prices  at  Dawson  City  may  be  much 
higher,  h'our  men  can  handle  easily  a  raft  of  500  or  600  such 
logs.  Getting  them  out  would  be  a  matter  of  only  a  week  or 
two. 

From  Lake  LaBarge  the  journey  is  through  "^hirty-mile  River, 
the  Lewis  River,  i  50  miles  to  Five-Finger  Rapids,  thence  to  the 
Yukon  at  Fort  Selkirk  and  then  down  stream  2!;omilesto  Daw- 
son City, 

Gold  in  Hootalinqua. 

Within  a  few  hours'  run  below  Lake  LaBarge  is  the  Hoota- 
linqua River,  which  drains  Teslin  Lake,  the  largest  body  ol 
water  in  the  Yukon  basin.  This  river  has  long  been  a  locality 
of  great  interest  to  prospectors  because  of  the  wide  distribution 
of  gold  in  its  bars  and  tributaries.  The  metal  is  found  every- 
where on  the  whole  length  of  the  stream,  but  seems  rather  elu- 
sive when  it  comes  to  the  test  of  actual  mining.  It  has  been 
prospected  and  worked  sporadically  for  fifteen  years,  and  in  all 
that  time  the  only  Hootalinqua  gold  of  any  consequence  taken 
out  was  found  on  Lewis  River,  a  few  miles  below  the  mouth  of 
the  former  stream,  at  Sassiar  bar,  where  something  like  $1  50,000 
was  mined.  It  is  deserted  now  for  the  better  mines  of  the 
Alaskan  side. 

Five-Finger  Rapids  is  one  of  the  two  or  three  obstructions 
that  interfere  with  the  free  navigation  of  the  river.  A  ledge  of 
rock  lies  directly  across  the  stream  with  four  or  five  openings  in 
it  that  afford  a  scanty  outlet  for  the  congested  current.  The 
largest  passage  and  the  one  commonly  used  is  the  one  at  the 
10 


146  HOW   TO   GET  THERE. 

right  shore.  There  is  a  considerable  fall,  but  the  water  is  not 
badly  broken,  the  gateway  being  succeeded  by  several  big  waves, 
over  which  a  boat  glides  with  great  rapidity,  but  with  a  smooth 
and  even  motion.  Shooting  this  rapid  is  an  exhilarating  expe- 
rience, but  with  careful  management  is  not  considered  dangerous. 

A  few  miles  above  Five-Finger  Rapids  is  George  Mc- 
Cormick's  old  Indian  trading-post.  This  is  now  abandoned  by 
the  "venerable"  George  ;  he  was  the  first  man  on  the  Klondike. 
A  mile  or  so  beyond  McCormick's  trading-post,  (which  by  the 
way  is  very  poorly  stocked  with  anything,  except  Indian  trad- 
ing articles),  on  the  right-hand  side  of  the  river,  before  turning 
to  the  Five-Finger  Rapids,  you  see  evidence  of  McCormick's 
shrewdness  and  enterprise.  He  has  drifted  a  hole  in  the  side  of 
the  mountain,  and  when  prospectors  last  passed  this  point  he 
was  taking  out  good  specimens  of  coal. 

Next  below  Five-Finger  Rapids  are  the  Rink  Rapids,  so 
named  by  Lieutenant  Schwatka,  because  of  their  musical 
rhythm.     To  run  the  Rink  is  mere  child's  play. 

And  now  all  the  danger  points  in  the  Chilkoot  Pass  route 
are  passed.     It  is  clear  sailing  to  Dawson  City. 

Past  Fort   Selkirk. 

The  first  trading-post  and  settlement  of  white  men  to  be 
encountered  on  the  river  is  at  Fort  Selkirk,  opposite  the  mouth 
of  Pelly  River.  Thence,  it  is  a  little  more  than  a  day's  run 
down  to  Sixty-Mile,  and  it  takes  less  than  a  day  to  go  from 
Sixty-Mile  to  Dawson  City. 

Dr.  Crewe  says  of  Pelly  River : 

"  We  will  just  run  across  the  river  and  see  how  old  man 
Harper  is  getting  along  at  Fort  Selkirk.  He  has  been  in  the 
Yukon  Valley,  trading  first  with  the  Indians  and  then  with  the 
white  men,  cv':r  since  the  Alaska   Commercial  Company  estab 


HOW    TO   GET  THERE.  147 

lished  trading-posts  along  the  riv^er.  Before  this  time,  I  believe 
he  was  employed  by  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  as  a  post-trader 
at  one  of  the  northern  stations.  Wishing  good-bye  to  our 
Selkirk  friends,  a  quick  uneventful  run  of  1 20  miles  brings  us 
to  Stewart  River.  Gold  was  first  discovered  in  the  Yukon 
Valley  on  this  river.  The  prospects  for  the  future  of  Stewart 
River  are  as  bright  and  hopeful  as  for  any  of  the  creeks  that 
are  known  to  contain  gold." 

Colorado  Miner's  View. 

The  words  of  a  Colorado  miner,  \yho  went  in  by  the  Chil- 
koot  Pass  in  the  early  summer  and  wrote  back  of  his  experi- 
ences, are  worth  reading  as  a  practical  man's  summing  up  of  the 
case.      He  says  : 

"  I  think  that  the  difficulties  and  dangers  of  the  Yukon  trip 
have  been  much  exaggerated.  The  cold  up  there  is  intense,  but 
is  dry  and  a  man  does  not  suffer  from  it  as  would  be  supposed. 
I  spent  one  winter  on  the  Yukon.  The  thermometer  went  down 
to  seventy-five  degrees  below  zero,  but  the  coldest  day  I  ever 
saw  in  my  life  was  in  Chicago  last  January, 

"  The  Chilkoot  Pass  is  only  3000  feet  high,  and  that  isn't  any 
height  at  all  to  a  man  used  to  mountains.  With  a  good  sleeping 
bag  a  man  may  sleep  out  of  doors  there  all  of  the  winter.  In 
the  interior  there  is  very  little  snow.  I  did  not  find  it  over  six 
inches  deep.  In  the  dark  part  of  the  year  there  is  almost  always 
enough  of  twilight  to  see  by. 

"  Of  course,  a  man  who  would  kick  about  a  crumpled  rose 
leaf  on  his  couch  would  have  a  hard  time  in  Alaska,  but  a  man 
who  is  a  man  could  get  along  all  right  up  there." 

A  company  has  been  formed  in  Chicago  which  proposes  to 
build  four  or  six  small  steamers  of  light  draft  which  will  be 
launched  in  Lake  Linderman,  and  will  run  in  the  chain  of  lakes, 


14«  HOW    TO    GET  THERE. 

the  Lewis  River  and  the  upper  Yukon  River.  The  same  com- 
pany will  build  tramways,  after  the  pattern  of  those  in  use  by  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company  over  the  old  route  from  the  North,  to 
overcome  the  difficulty  of  transportation  at  porta<^e  points. 

The  boats  will  go  to  their  destination  in  parts,  and  will  be  put 
together  on  the  waters  of  Lake  Linderman.  They  will  be  pro- 
vided with  all  the  comforts  that  make  .steamboat  traveling  enjoy- 
able, and  will  be  of  sufficent  tonnage  to  carry  a  considerable 
amount  of  freight  on  each  trip. 

Witli  the  proposed  wagon  road  that  the  Dominion  Government 
and  the  Canadian  Pacific.  Railway  are  figuring  on,  it  is  thought 
there  will  be  little  trouble  in  reaching  the  gold  fields,  and  those 
who  are  caught  on  the  Klondike  when  the  lakes  and  rivers  are 
frozen  over  can  get  out  by  way  of  the  northern  route,  which  is 
through  Edmonton. 

Over  Chilkat  Pass. 

The  Chilkat  trail  leads  over  the  Chilkat  Pass  and  is  about 
125  miles  in  length  from  the  head  of  Chilkat  Inlet  to  where  it 
.strikes  the  waters  of  Tahkeena  River.  This  was  the  old  trail 
used  by  the  Indians  to  and  from  the  interior,  and  leads  all  the 
way  through  to  old  Fort  Selkirk  by  land.  "Jack"  Dalton  has 
used  this  trail  at  times  in  taking  horses  and  li\'e  stock  tp  the 
mines,  portaging  to  the  Tahkeena,  then  by  raft  down  that  river 
to  the  Lewis,  thus  proving  that  the  Tahkeena  is  navigable  for  a 
small  stern  wheel  steamer  for  a  distance  of  some  seventy  miles. 

For  the  last  three  years  several  California  and  English  com- 
panies have  been  studying  the  lay  of  the  land  between  Chilkat 
and  Circle  City,  with  a  view  to  establishing  a  quicker  and  more 
practicable  way  of  transportation  to  the  rich  gold  fields  along  the 
Yukon.  Goodall,  Perkins  &  Co.  have  made  a  thorough  investi- 
gation of  the  matter.     Captain  Charles  M.  Goodall  said : 


HOW    TO    GET  THERE.  141» 

"  The  rich  find  in  the  Klondike  district  will  probably  result  in 
some  better  means  of  transportation,  though  the  roughness  of 
the  country  and  the  limited  open  season  will  not  justify  anybody 
in  building  a  railroad  for  any  distance.  Recently  we  sent  several 
hundred  sheep  and  cattle  to  Juneau,  and  from  there  to  the  head 
of  navigation  by  the  steamer  Alki.  Dalton,  the  man  who  dis- 
covered the  trail  across  the  country  from  Chilkat  River  to  Fort 
Selkirk,  is  taking  the  live  stock  to  the  mines.  His  route  lies 
from  the  head  of  navigation  through  Chilkat  Pass  and  across  a 
route  which  is  over  a  prairie  several  miles  to  the  "Wikon  River, 
near  Fort  Selkirk.  At  this  time  of  year  the  prairie  is  clear,  and 
bunch  grass  grows  on  it  in  abundance. 

*'  I  believe  this  will  ultimately  be  the  popular  route.  People 
could  go  over  it  in  wagons,  as  the  prairie  is  level  and  the  roads 
good.  Stations  could  be  established,  as  was  done  on  the  plains 
in  1 849.  It  would  be  easy  to  go  down  the  river  in  boats  from 
where  Dalton's  trail  strikes  it  to  Dawson  City  and  the  other 
mining  camps. 

"  The  plan  to  build  a  traction  road  over  Chilkat  Pass  from  Dyea, 
the  head  of  navigation  after  leaving  Juneau,  to  Lake  Linder- 
man,  is  not  a  good  business  proposition.  It  has  been  talked  of 
and  the  rest  of  the  plan  is  to  have  steamers  to  ply  from  Lake 
Linderman  through  the  other  lakes  to  the  Yukon.  But  to  do 
this  two  portages  would  have  to  be  made  on  account  of  the  falls 
in  the  river,  and  these  would  be  enormously  expensive." 

By  the  White  Pass. 

The  White  Pass  is  considered  by  many  one  of  the  best  that 
cuts  the  mountains  of  the  coast.  It  is  at  least  looo  feet  lower 
than  the  Chilkoot  and  little  higher  than  the  Taku.  It  is  reported 
timbered  the  entire  length.  Its  salt  water  terminus  is  about 
eighty-five  miles  north  of  Juneau,  and  ocean  steamers  can   run 


150  HOW   TO    GET  THERE. 

up  to  the  landing  at  all  times,  where  there  is  a  good  town 
site,  well  protected  from  storms.  The  pass  lies  through  a  box 
cafion  surrounded  by  high  granite  peaks  and  is  comparatively- 
easy.  The  first  seven  miles  from  salt  water  lie  up  the  bottom 
lands  of  the  Skagway  River  through  heavy  timber.  Then 
for  about  seven  miles  farther  the  way  is  over  piles  of  boulders 
and  moraines  which  would  prove  the  most  expensive  part  of  the 
trail.  This  trail  would  not  exceed  thirty-two  miles  in  length, 
and  would  strike  Windy  Arm  of  Tagish  Lake  or  Taku  Arm 
coming  in  farther  up  the  lake.  All  of  this  part  of  the  lake  is 
well  timbered  and  accessible  to  Lake  Bennett  and  its  connec- 
tions.    White  Pass  could  be  used  as  a  mail  route  any  month  in 

the  year. 

Trail   Open  July    i6th. 

The  Alaska  Searchlight  publishes  a  letter  from  William  Moore, 
at  Fourteen-Mile  Camp,  Skagway,  Alaska,  stating  that  the  White 
Pass  pack  trail  to  the  summit  of  the  pass  was  opened  for  travel 
July  1 6th.  On  reaching  the  summit  the  traveler  steps  upon  al- 
most level  country,  the  grade  to  the  lakes  being  twenty  feet  to 
the  mile.  The  distance  from  salt  water  to  the  Too-Chi  Lake  is 
thirty  miles,  and  from  salt  water  to  the  head  of  Lake  Bennett, 
the  distance  is  forty-five  miles.  Both  routes  from  the  summit 
are  through  rolling  country,  for  the  most  part  open,  with  plenty 
of  o-rass  for  feeding  stock,  water  and  sufficient  timber  for  all  pur- 
poses. From  salt  water  to  the  summit,  stock  and  pack  horses 
can  be  driven  through  easily. 

C.  H.  Wilkinson,  on  behalf  of  the  British- Yukon  Company, 
has  made  an  offer  to  the  Minister  of  the  Literior  to  build  a  wagon 
road  through  the  White  Pass  for  $2QOO  a  mile.  The  distance  is 
about  fifty  miles.  About  eight  miles  of  the  road  would  be  very 
difficult  to  build.  It  would  take  $7000  a  mile,  being  all  rock 
excavation,  to  construct  this  eight  miles. 


HOW    TO    GET  THERE.  151 

At  the  rate  the  people  are  flocking  into  the  new  gold  region 
of  the  Yukon  country,  something  will  have  to  be  done  soon  to 
provide  a  way  of  getting  provisions  into  the  mining  district. 

If  this  road  were  built  Victoria  could  be  reached  from  the 
Yukon  district  in  about  fourteen  days.  The  Minister  has  taken 
the  matter  into  consideration. 

Mr.  Wilkinson  is  also  authority  for  the  statement  that  the 
company  has  completed  arrangements  for  placing  a  fleet  of  be- 
tween ten  and  twenty  steamers  on  the  Yukon  River  in  the  .sprinc'", 
and  will  probably  make  an  effort  in  the  direction  of  a  narrow 
guage  railway  over  the  pass. 

Survey   for  Railroad. 

George  W.  Garsidc,  a  well-known  engineer,  formerl)-  in  the 
employ  of  the  Canadian  Government,  has  recently  completed  the 
survey  of  sixty-two  miles  of  railway  running  from  Skagwav  Bay 
over  the  White  Pass  to  Lake  Tagish,  and  thence  to  the  uoper 
Hootalinqua  River.  He  is  employed  by  the  British-American 
Transportation  Company,  said  to  be  amply  supplied  with  funds 
with  which  to  complete  the"  undertaking.  It  is  said  work  will 
begin  in  the  spring  of  1S98.  The  new  route  will  be  100  miles 
longer  than  that  at  present  followed  b}'  miners  going  into  the 
Yukon  basin  overland  from  Dyea. 

The  route  surveyed  leaves  tide  water  at  Skagway  Bay,  close  to 
Dyea,  and  runs  in  a  northerly  direction  over  the  summit  by 
White's  Pass,  through  which  a  trail  has  just  been  completed. 
The  new  trail  is  looo  feet  lower  than  Chilkat  Pass,  at  which  so 
much  hardship  is  encountered  by  prospectors.  The  route  will 
eliminate  all  the  tlanger  of  the  White  Horse  Rapids  and  Miles 
Cafion,  where  now  portages  of  from  one  to  three  mile:^  are  made, 
and  where  so  many  gold  hunters  have  lost  their  all,  in  h:iving 
their  supplies  turned  out  of  the  boat  into  the  water  by  the  bowlders 


152  HOW   TO    GET  THERE. 

The  report  of  the  engineers  on  the  project  has  been  filed. 
It  endorses  the  plan  as  practical  but  costly.  Skagway  Bay  has 
a  fine  natural  harbor,  and  is  good  anchorage  for  vessels  of  any 
size.  From  the  harbor  the  proposed  railroad  will  follow  the 
Skagway  River  to  its  head,  which  is  near  the  summit  of  the  pass. 

The  grade  is  variable.  The  first  four  miles  the  ascent  is 
gradual.  The  next  seven  miles  of  the  route  is  difficult  and  even 
dangerous.  In  three  more  miles  of  easier  grade  the  summit  is 
reached.  The  descent  to  Tagish  Lake,  about  twenty  miles,  is 
gradual  and  the  total  fall  less  than  400  feet.  The  surface  of  the 
lake  is  2200  feet  above  the  sea. 

Route  by  Taku  Pass. 

A  new  route  to  the  Klondike  (and  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  "  Klondike,"  as  a  destination,  means  anywhere  in  the  great 
gold-lined  Yukon  Basin)  has  been  proposed  by  Mrs.  Frederick 
Schwatka,  the  widow  of  the  great  Northwestern  Pathfinder.  It 
is  by  way  of  the  Taku  Inlet,  River  and  Pass.  Lieutenant 
Schwatka  discovered  the  pass  and  tried  it. 

According  to  Mrs.  Schwatka,  who  has  spent  much  of  her 
time  in  Alaska  and  who  is  familiar  with  a  large  part  of  the 
country,  the  Taku  Pass  will  prove  to  be  a  bonanza  to  the  first 
trading  company  that  establishes  a  system  of  pack  trains  through 
it  to  Juneau,  the  base  of  supplies  for  the  mining  region.  It  is 
besides  the  easiest  route  for  the  miners  themselves  and  a  shal- 
low-draft steamer  that  could  be  brought  to  run  on  Taku  River 
would  leave  only  ninety  miles  of  land  to  be  crossed. 

Mrs.  Schwatka  spoke  of  the  Taku  route  in  these  words  : 

"  Lieutenant  Schwatka  explored  the  Taku  River  and  Pass 
several  years  ago.  He  tried  to  get  the  people  of  Juneau  to  es- 
tablish a  pack  train  line  through  the  pass,  to  connect  with  a 
steamboat  on  the  inlet.     That  was  before  there  was  much  travel 


HOW    TO    GP:T  there.  153 

to  Juneau,  and  the  people  of  the  thriving  village  did  not  believe 
it  would  pay  them.  Now  it  certainly  would,  but  I  have  not  seen 
a  word  about  the  pass  in  any  of  the  newspapers,  and  there  ap- 
pears to  be  almost  no  travel  through  it. 

"  In  fact,  the  pass  contains  an  excellent  railroad  grade,  and  it 
would  cost  a  comparatively  small  sum  to  build  and  equip  a  road. 
The  current  of  the  river  is  strong  and  there  are  frequent  floods, 
but  a  light  draught  steamer  would  have  no  difficulty  in  ascending 
it  and  making  connections  with  the  road  to  Juneau.  It  would 
be  an  easy  matter  to  get  supplies  from  Juneau  then.  The 
Canadian  Pacific  comes  so  near  to  that  country  it  seems  as  if  it 
could  profitably  build  a  line  through  the  pass  and  connect  the 
two  branches  by  steamer. 

"  Lieutenant  Schwatka  made  a  map  of  the  region,  which  I 
think  I  shall  have  published.  He  made  the  trip  up  the  river  b}' 
canoe  and  reported  the  current  there  very  swift  and  strong.  I 
am  certain  that  the  Taku  route  is  the  easiest  for  persons  going 
from  Juneau,  however. 

"  From  Taku  to  Lake  Teslin  it  is  ninety  miles  over  level 
prairies,  and  the  country  from  Lake  Teslin  is  an  open  valley. 
With  the  aid  of  pack  horses  the  Taku  route  is  by  far  preferable." 

Details  of  the   Route. 

The  Taku  Pass  route  may  be  briefly  described  as  beginning  at 
Juneau,  thence  up  the  Taku  River  to  its  end,  where  the  portage 
of  ninety  miles  is  made  by  pack  to  the  Teslin  or  Aklene  Lake, 
the  route  through  which  is  northwesterly.  Arriving  at  the 
farther  end  of  the  last  mentioned  waterway  the  trip  is  by  heavy 
canoes  along  the  Hootalinqua  or  Teslin  River  to  Lewis  River, 
which  joins  the  Yukon  at  Fort  Selkirk.  From  the  latter  place 
Dawson  City  and  other  mining  places  are  reached  by  the 
Yukon. 


154 


HOW   TO    GET  THERE. 


William  A.  Pratt,  professor  of  electrical  engineering  at  Dela- 
ware College,  and  P.  I.  Packard,  of  Wilmington,  Del.,  are  at  the 
head  of  a  party  enroute  to  survey  a  line  for  a  railroad  to  be 
built  by  an  Eastern  s^'ndicate  through  Taku  Pass  to  Lake 
Teslin. 

Another  route,  whose  promoters   say  is   the  best  highway  to 


SCENE    IN    ALASKA    NEAR    THE    COAST. 

the  gold  fields  from  the  coast  yet  discovered,  is  by  way  of  the 
Lake  Teslin,  or  Aklena  Lake  trail,  and  starts  in  American  terri- 
tory at  Fort  Wrangel.  It  leads  up  the  Stickine  River  and  Tele- 
graph Creek  from  Wrangel  to  Glcnora,  a  distance  of  126  miles. 
The  Stickine  is  navifjable  for  stern-wheel  steamers  of   four  or 


HOW   TO    GET  THERE.  155 

five  feet  draught,  and  it  is  believed  the  channel  of  Telegraph 
Creek  can  easily  be  made  ample  for  the  same  boats  all  the  way 
to  Glenora,  The  provincial  government  is  at  work  improving 
the  route. 

The  only  point  of  peril  in  the  water  part  of  this  route  will  be 
in  the  rapids  in  the  Stickinc  River,  but  the  trouble  here  is 
handily  overcome  at  present  by  making  fast  heavy  lines  to  trees 
on  the  banks  and  warping  the  boat  up  or  down  the  dangeious 
passages. 

From  Glenora  the  route  will  traverse  a  newly-discovered  pass 
and  then  straight  across  the  smooth  tabic  land  to  Lake  T'^slin. 
Thence  it  is  plain  sailing  down  the  Hootalinqua  River,  a  tribu- 
tary of  the  Lewis,  by  the  Lewis  to  Fort  Selkirk  and  thence  on 
the  broad  Yukon  to  Dawson  City. 

Five-Finger   Rapids. 

The  only  danger  on  this  part  of  the  route  is  the  Five-Finger 
Rapids,  where  so  many  prospectors  and  so  much  property  have 
been  lost.  The  Canadian  Government  will  appropriate  a  sum 
of  money  to  blow  out  the  dangerous  rocks  at  this  point  and 
clear  the  river  of  dangerous  obstructions.  This  route  avoids 
White  Horse  Rapids  and  Miles  Cafion,  the  most  dangerous  spots 
in  the  river  routes.  The  total  distance  to  Dawson  City  via 
Telegraph  Creek  will  be  approximately  1780  miles. 

John  C.  Galbreath,  for  many  years  a  resident  of  Telegraph 
Creek,  has  been  directed  by  the  British  Columbia  government  to 
open  this  new  route  and  $2000  will  be  expended  on  it  immediate!)'. 
Even  now  the  trip  to  the  gold  fields,  it  is  said,  can  be  made  with 
less  danger  and  more  quickly  by  this  route  than  b)-  any  other. 
It  is  open  usual)}'  until  the  middle  of  October  and  sometimes  as 
late  as  November. 

It  is  also  proposed  to  build  a  branch  from  Telegraph  Creek  to 


156  HOW   TO   GET  THERE. 

Dease  Lake,  which  connects  with  the  upper  waters  of  the  MaC' 
kenzie  River. 

The  "back  door"  route,  or  "  inside  track  "  from  civilization  to 
the  Klondike  diggings,  is  the  old  Hudson  Bay  Company's  "  trunk 
line,"  and  has  been  in  use  nearly  a  century.  It  is  said  to  possess 
many  advantages,  except  perhaps  in  the  matter  of  distance,  over 
any  of  the  other  land  and  water  trails. 

Argonauts  going  in  at  the  "  back  door  "  will  go  to  Edmonton, 
in  Alberta,  1772  miles  from  Chicago,  via  the  Canadian  Pacific 
Railroad,  and  thence  by  stage  or  wagon  to  Athabasca  Landing. 
Edmonton  is  on  the  Saskatchewan  River  and  the  portage  to  the 
landing  places  the  traveler  on  the  banks  of  the  great  Athabasca 
River  and  at  the  head  of  a  continuous  waterway  for  canoe  travel 
to  Fort  Macpherson,  at  the  north  mouth  of  the  Mackenzie  River, 
from  which  point  the  Peel  River  lies  south  to  the  gold  regions. 
P"rom  Edmonton  to  Fort  Macpherson  is  1882  miles. 

Only  Two  Big  Portages. 

There  are  only  two  portages  of  any  size  on  the  route — that 
from  Edmonton  to  Athabasca  Landing,  over  which  there  is  a 
stage  and  wagon  line,  and  at  Smith  Landing,  sixteen  miles,  over 
which  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  has  a  tramway.  With  the 
exception  of  five  other  portages  of  a  few  hundred  yards  there  is 
a  fine  down-grade  water  route  all  the  way.  Wherever  there  is 
a  lake  or  long  stretch  of  deep  water  navigation,  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company  has  small  freight  steamers  which  ply  during  the  sum- 
mer months  between  the  portage  points. 

r>om  Edmonton  a  party  of  three  men  with  a  canoe  should 
reach  Fort  Macpherson  within  sixty  days,  provided  they  are 
strong  and  of  some  experience  in  that  sort  of  travel. 

P2xpcrienced  travelers  recommend  that  the  canoe  be  bought  at 
home  unless  it  is  intended  to  hire  Indians  with  large  bark  canoes 


HOW    TO    GET  THERE.  157 

for  the  trip.  Birch-bark  canoes  can  be  purchased  large  enough 
to  carry  three  tons,  but  are  said  to  be  unreliable  unless  Indians 
arc  taken  along  to  doctor  thcni  and  keep  them  from  getting 
water- logged.  The  Hudson  Bay  Company  will  contract  to  take 
freight  northward  on  their  steamers  until  the  close  of  navigation. 
A  recent  letter  from  a  missionary  says  the  ice  had  only  com- 
menced to  run  on  September  30,  1896,  in  the  Peel  River,  the 
waterway  from  Fort  Macpherson  to  the  gold  fields.  If  winter 
comes  on  the  traveler  can  change  his  canoe  for  sleds  and  dog 
trains. 

Advantages  to   Travelers. 

The  great  advantage  claimed  for  the  "  back  door "  route  is 
that  it  is  an  organized  line  of  communication.  Travelers  need 
not  carry  any  more  food  than  will  take  them  from  one  Hudson 
Bay  post  to  the  next,  and  there  is  abundance  of  fish  and  wild 
fowl  along  the  route.  They  can  also  get  assistance  at  the  posts 
in  case  of  sickness  or  accident. 

If  lucky  enough  to  make  their  "  pile  "  in  the  Klondike,  they 
can  come  back  by  the  dog-sled  route  in  the  winter.  There  is 
one  mail  to  Fort  Macpherson  in  the  winter.  Dogs  for  teams 
can  be  bought  at  any  of  the  Hudson  Bay  posts,  which  form  a 
chain  of  roadhouses  on  the  trip. 

Parties  traveling  alone  will  need  no  guides  until  they  get  near 
Fort  Macpherson,  the  route  from  Edmonton  being  so  well  defined. 

It  is  estimated  that  a  party  of  three  could  provide  themselves 
with  food  for  the  canoe  trip  of  two  months  for  thirty-five  dollars. 
Pork,  tea,  flour  and  baking  powder  would  suffice. 

Parties  should  consist  of  three  men,  as  that  is  the  crew  of  a 
canoe.  It  will  take  600  pounds  of  food  to  carry  three  men  over 
the  route.  The  paddling  is  all  done  down  .stream  except  when 
they  turn  south  up  Peel  River,  and  sails  should  be  taken,  as  there 
is  often  a  favorable  wind  for  da\'s.      There  are  large  scows  on  the 


158  HOW    TO    GET  THERE. 

line  manned  by  ten  men  each,  and  known  as  "  sturgeon  heads." 
They  arc  like  canal  boats,  but  arc  punted  along,  and  are  used  by 
the  Hudson  Bay  people  for  taking  supplies  to  the  forts. 

It  is  estimated  $200  per  man  will  be  sufficient  for  expenses 
via  this  route,  and  that  two  months,  and  possibly  six  weeks,  will 
be  an  ample  estimate  of  time. 

Another  all-Canadian  route  to  the  Klondike  is  proposed,  to 
enable  Eastern  Canada  to  compete  in  transportation,  traffic  and 
trade  with  the  Pacific  coast.  It  includes  a  railway  to  Moose 
Factory,  at  the  foot  of  James  Bay,  and  a  line  of  steamers  thence 
to  the  western  end  of  Chesterfield  Inlet,  a  distance  of  1 300  miles. 
The  rest  of  the  journey  would  be  mainly  by  the  Mackenzie  and 
Yukon  rivers,  and  it  is  estimated  that  in  summer  it  could  be 
made  in  seven  days  from  Toronto.  Between  Hudson  Bay  and 
the  Yukon  it  is  believed  the  only  piece  of  railway  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  construct  is  200  miles  or  so  between  the  head  of  Chester- 
field Inlet  and  Great  Slave  Lake. 

Offers   Fine    Steamers. 

The  late  managing  owner  of  a  line  of  steamers  on  the  great 
lakes  has  examined  the  reports  as  to  the  waterways  through 
Great  Slave  Lake  and  the  Mackenzie  and  Yukon  rivers,  and 
offers  to  undertake  to  equip  the  route  with  a  new  style  of  steam- 
ers, which,  while  spacious  and  economical,  would  develop  a 
reliable  speed  of  twenty  miles  an  hour  in  slack  water.  A  model 
of  an  ice  boat  has  been  prepared  for  winter  navigation  of  these 
waters. 

The  plan  for  reaching  Hudson  Bay  is  the  construction  of  a 
railway  from  Missanabie  to  Moose  Factory,  to  be  operated  by 
electricity  furnished   by  the  water  power   of   the   Moose   River. 

The  propo.sed  route  to  Hudson  Bay  is  disputed  by  Quebec, 
which  is  desirous   of  securing  the   western  connection  f(^r  itself, 


HOW   TO   GET  THERE.  159 

and  having  already  constructed  a  railway  to  Lake  St.  John,  to 
within  300  niilc-s  of  James  Bay,  is  ready,  with  a  certain  amount 
of  Government  aid,  to  extend  it  to  Moose  Factory  by  way  of 
the  valley  of  the  Ashuamouchouan  River. 

J.  M.  C.  Lewis,  a  civil  engineer,  has  proposed  to  the  Interior 
Department,  at  Washington,  a  route  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Copper  River,  by  which  he  says  the  Klondike  may  be  reached 
by  a  journey  of  a  little  over  300  miles  from  the  coast,  a  great 
saving  in  distance  over  the  other  mountain  routes.  He  says  the 
trail  could  be  opened  at  small  expense. 

The  route  which  he  proposes  will  start  inland  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Copper  River,  near  the  Miles  Glacier,  twenty-five  miles 
east  of  the  entrance  to  Prince  William  Sound.  He  says  the 
Copper  River  is  navigable  for  small  steamers  for  many  miles 
beyond  the  mouth  of  its  principal  eastern  tributary,  called  on 
the  latest  maps  the  Chillyna  River,  which  is  itself  navigable  for 
a  considerable  distance.  From  the  head  of  navigation  on  the 
Chillyna,  Mr.  Lewis  says,  either  a  highway  or  a  railroad  could 
be  constructed  without  great  difficulty  or  very  heavy  grades, 
through  what  the  natives  call  the  "  low  pass,"  probably  the 
Scoloi  Pass.  From  the  pass  the  road  would  follow  the  valley  of 
the  White  River  to  the  point  where  it  empties  into  the  Yukon, 
on  the  edge  of  the  Klondike  gold  fields. 

"Uncle  Sam's"   Survey. 

"  Uncle  Sam  "  has  had  his  eye  on  short  routes  to  Alaska  for 
some  time.  In  1886  a  bill  was  introduced  in  Congress  "  to  facili- 
tate the  settlement  and  develop  the  resources  of  the  Territor)- 
of  Alaska  and  to  open  an  overland  commercial  route,  between 
the  United  States,  Asiatic  Russia  and  Japan." 

The  Interior  Department  referred  the  subject  to  Director 
Powell  of  the   Geological   Survey  for  a  report,  which  was  made 


160  HOW   TO    GET  THERE. 

as  comprehensive  as  the  knowledge  possessed  by  the  survey  of 
the  topography  of  the  country,  through  which  the  road  would 
have  to  pass,  would  permit. 

In  the  beginning  of  his  report  Director  Powell  says  : 

"  Information  on  record  bearing  on  the  question  does  not  indi- 
cate any  greater  obstacles  to  the  construction  of  such  a  line 
than  those  already  overcome  in  trans-continental  railroad  build- 
ing, and  the  construction  of  the  proposed  line  must  be  pro- 
nounced feasible. 

"  From  the  geographic  knowledge  available  a  tentative  line 
may  be  indicated  extending  from  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad 
in  Montana  northward  to  Behring  Sea,  about  2800  miles  in 
length." 

This  tentative  line,  divided  into  three  grand  divisions,  is  as 
follows  : 

1.  From  some  point  on  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  in  Mon- 
tana to  the  headwaters  of  the  Peace  River. 

2.  From  the  headwaters  of  the  Peace  River  to  the  headwaters 
of  the  Yukon. 

3.  From  the  headwaters  of  the  Yukon  to  some  point  on  the 
shore  of  Behring  Sea. 

Straight  to  Klondike. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  proposed  route  would  take  the 
road  right  through  the  Klondike  gold  field. 

From  Montana  northward  through  British  Columbia  as  far 
as  the  Peace  River,  Director  Powell  considered  two  routes,  which 
he  calls  plains  and  valleys,  respectively,  their  names  indicating 
their  character.     His  preference  was  for  the  valley  route. 

First,  it  would  have  a  decided  advantage  in  distance. 

Second,  it  would  afford  ea.sier  grades.  He  admitted  the  pros- 
pect for  local  business  over  the  two  routes  appeared  to  be  in 


HOW   TO   GET  THERE.  161 

favor  of  the  plains  route,  "  unless  important  mining  districts 
should  be  developed  on  the  other  line." 

From  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  to  the  Canadian  Pacific 
Railroad  by  the  valley  route  is  about  325  miles,  and  to  connect 
Southern  Alaska  indirectly  with  the  railway  system  of  the  United 
States  via  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railroad  would  require  the  con- 
struction of  only  840  miles  of  line,  which  is  exactly  the  distance 
from  Baltimore  to  Chicago  by  the  Pennsylvania  line. 

One  of  the  most  perplexing  problems  of  transportation  to 
which  the  gold  craze  gave  rise,  in  the  first  months  of  the  epidemic, 
was  to  find  steamers  for  the  sea  voyage  either  to  Juneau  or  St. 
Michael's.  The  regular  transportation  companies  used  all  their 
own  boats  and  all  that  they  could  hire,  and  even  then  were  unable 
to  accommodate  all  who  wanted  passage,  and  private  enterprise 
undertook  the  hazardous  trips  in  almost  any  old  tub  that  would 
float  long  enough  to  get  out  of  the  harbor. 

The  experiences  of  the  season,  however,  and  the  demand  for 
passage  on  the  first  boats  to  go  North  in  1898,  which  set  in  as 
early  as  the  first  week  in  August,  set  the  steamship  men  hustling 
to  be  ready  for  the  expected  rush  in  the  spring. 

More  Steamers  Next  Spring. 

Manager  C.  H.  Hamilton,  of  the  North  American  Transporta- 
tion and  Trading  Company,  announce  that  his  company  has  let 
a  contract  to  Cramps,  the  Philadelphia  shipbuilders,  for  the  con- 
struction of  two  2000-ton  steel  steamers.  They  will  be  the  finest 
steamers  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and  will  be  used  exclusively  on  the 
Seattle-St.  Michael's  run.  They  will  have  accommodations  for 
200  first-class  and  500  second-class  passengers. 

The  American  Steel  Barge  Company,  of  West  Superior,  Wis- 
consin, arranged  with  a  syndicate  interested  in  the  Alaskan  gold 
fields  to  construct  saveral  small  vessels  on  the  whaleback  plan  to 
11 


162  HOW    TO    GET  THERE. 

navigate  the  Yukon,  Arrangements  are  being  made  to  open  the 
shipyards  of  the  company  at  Everett,  Washington,  and  the  plant 
at  West  Superior  may  be  used  to  get  out  some  of  these  little 
ships. 

The  whaleback  steamer  Everett,  which  carried  the  American 
contributions  to  the  East  Indian  famine,  one  of  the  largest  whale- 
back  freighters  afloat,  will  be  remodeled  to  accommodate  pas- 
sengers and  put  on  the  San  Francisco-Alaska  route,  making 
regular  trips  to  the  Yukon  with  gold-seekers  who  prefer  the 
water  route  to  the  diggings. 

Expert  River  Men. 

In  preparation  for  the  spring  rush  up  the  Yukon  River,  and 
over  the  divide  with  supplies,  a  Canadian  firm  has  been  hiring 
lumbermen  and  river  men  from  the  Ottawa  region.  There  is 
every  indication  that  by  the  opening  of  navigation  on  the  upper 
Yukon  there  will  be  abundant  work  for  expert  river  men  in 
transporting  supplies  to  the  Klondike. 

A  Seattle  company  has  been  organized  to  build  a  sea-going 
steamship,  and  also  a  light  draft  steamer  for  the  river  business 
between  St.  Michael's  and  Dawson  City. 

The  Puget  Sound  Tugboat  Company  will  put  a  steamer  on 
the  Yukon  in  the  spring  to  carry  freight  and  passengers .  from 
St.  Michael's  to  the  Klondike. 

The  Pacific  Coast  Steamship  Company  is  arranging  ro  use  all 
its  available  boats  on  the  northern  route  to  Juneau  in  1898,  and 
may  decide  to  make  several  additions  to  its  fleet. 

Both  the  North  American  and  Alaska  companies  are  adding 
to  their  facilities  for  taking  care  of  traffic  in  the  spring  and 
expect  to  be  fully  equipped  for  the  great  rush  of  gold-hunters 
and  supplies  when  the  time  comes.  The  North  American  has 
ordered  several  new  ocean  and  river  steamers. 


HOW   TO   GET  THERE.  163 

Steamboat  men  in  Seattle  estimate  that,  beginning  about  the 
first  of  Aprii,  a  large  steamer  can  leave  Puget's  Sound'for  Alaska 
daily  with  all  the  passenger  and  freight  accommodations  crowded. 

Several  new  steamer  companies  are  already  in  the  field  and 
the  promise  has  been  made  that  next  season  will  see  a  reduction 
in  the  rate  of  fare.  But  unless  the  reports  received  from  the 
gold  fields  during  the  winter  indicate  that  the  richness  of  the 
placers  has  been  exaggerated  and  that  they  give  signs  of  peter- 
ing out,  the  rush  to  the  mines  in  the  spring  will  surpass  anything 
the  world  has  ever  seen. 

Transportation  companies  assert  that  those  who  are  waiting 
until  spring  to  go  North  will  be  very  much  disappointed  if  they 
expect  a  reduction  in  fares.  That  some  companies  will  be  organ- 
ized to  make  trips  at  reduced  rates  there  is  no  doubt,  but  the 
regular  steamship  lines  say  the  fare  will  be  the  same. 

Secretary  Hamilton,  of  the  North  American  Transportation  and 
Trading  Company,  spoke  of  the  fares  in  the  spring  as  follows  : 

"  In  my  opinion  the  fare  to  St.  Michael's  will  not  be  less  than 
;$200  in  the  spring.  Transportation  facilities  will  be  improved, 
but  fares  will  not  be  less." 

The  Pacific  Coast  Steamship  Company  officials  were  equally 
sure  the  fares  would  stay  up. 

"Will   Pay  To   Come  Back. 

The  companies  generall)-  assert  that  in  the  early  spring  they 
will  be  carrying  to  the  sound  hundreds  of  passengers  who  have 
wintered  in  the  vicinity  of  Dawson  City.  All  will  have  money 
and  will  be  in  a  position  to  pay  the  present  fares,  which 
are  considered  reasonable.  The  majority  of  the  miners  who 
stay  during  the  coming  winter  will  undoubtedly  come  out  by 
way  of  St.  Michael's.  They  will  not  care  to  undergo  the  hard- 
ships of  the  trip  over  the  pass. 


164  HOW   TO   GET  THERE. 

The  first  ship  from  New  York  to  Juneau  with  gold-hunters 
and  supplies  sailed  late  in  August,  going  around  the  Horn. 
The  fare  to  Juneau  was  $175.  Several  other  sailing  vessels  are 
expected  to  leave  New  York  for  Juneau  with  miners  during  the 
winter. 

A  great  demand  for  small  boats  arose  on  the  Pacific  Coast  be- 
fore the  season  closed,  the  argonauts  thinking  to  save  time  on 
the  overland  journey  by  taking  their  boats  with  them.  Several 
styles  of  boats  that  could  be  shipped  "  knocked  down  "  at  once 
came  to  the  front,  and  several  firms  began  making  specialties  of 
these  handy  craft.  One  that  will  carry  a  ton  costs  about  ;^i8, 
and  weighs  about  200  pounds.  It  is  taken  apart  with  no  pieces 
more  than  six  or  seven  feet  long  and  packed  for  shipping.  The 
principal  objection  to  these  boats  is  that  the  Indians  and  packers 
dislike  to  contract  to  carry  them  over  the  mountains  on  account 
of  their  awkward  shape.  One  builder  has  worked  out  a  model 
for  a  galvanized  iron  boat  that  can  be  carried  in  sections  fitting 
together  like  a  "nest"  of  custard  dishes,  and  can  be  put  to- 
gether with  small  bolts.  A  canvas  folding  boat  that  would 
carry  two  tons  would  be  available  on  the  Yukon.  A  keel,  mast 
and  some  additional  bracing  could  be  added  after  reaching  the 

interior. 

"Wagon  Road  to  Yukon. 

The  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  and  Dominion  Government  are 
conferring  with  a  view  to  opening  up  a  wagon  road  to  the  Yukon 
from  Edmonton.  Such  a  road  is  feasible,  and  would  be  only 
between  800  and  900  miles  long,  passing  through  a  rich  aurifer- 
ous country.  The  object  is  to  give  a  short  and  safe  road  for 
prospectors  and  to  make  it  possible  to  maintain  winter  commu- 
nication. 

A  joint  resolution  was  reported  favorably  for  the  United  States 
Senate  Committee  on  Territories  on  July  2 2d,  authorizing  the 


HOW   TO   GET  THERE.  165 

construction  ot  toll  roads  in  Alaska.  The  resolution  authorizes 
the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  to  grant  right  of  way  200  feet  wide. 
Franchises  are  to  be  limited  to  twenty  years.  The  rates  of  toll 
are  to  be  approved  by  the  Secretar)^  of  the  Interior. 

One  of  the  features  of  the  stampede  to  Klondike  via  Dyea 
has  been  the  number  of  burros,  cayuses,  mules  and  horses  taken 
up  to  sepve  for  packing  over  the  Chilkoot,  Chilkat  and  White 
Passes!  Hundreds  have  been  sent  through,  and  their  owners  in 
many  cases  had  contracts  in  their  pockets  for  all  the  freight  they 
could  expect  to  handle  at  from  thirteen  to  nineteen  cents  a  pound. 
Old  mountaineers,  however,  think  the  horses,  and  especially  the 
mules,  will  prove  a  failure  as  a  venture,  for  their  hoofs  will  cut 
up  the  road,  which  has  been  barely  good  enough  for  human  feet, 
so  far,  and  this,  in  such  a  moist  climate  as  that  of  autumn  in 
Southeastern  Alaska,  will  soon  make  the  trails  impassable  for 
beast  or  even,  perhaps,  for  man. 

There  are  a  few  horses  in  the  Yukon  countr)',  and  one  of  the 

largest  pack    trains    ever  brought    into    Dawson    City,    Robert 

Krook,    of  Dawson    City,    says,    was    brought    over   the   frozen 

river  Yukon  by  thirteen  horses  and  as  many  sleds  all  the  way 

from   Circle  City.      Feed,  however,  is  expensive,  and  the  horses 

are  easily  rendered  useless.     If  water  gets  on  the  top  of  the  ice 

and  the  horses  or  mules  get  wet  feet,  they  are  practically  ruined 

for  all  time,  as  their  hoofs  split  when  the  water  freezes,  crippling 

the  animals.     To  avoid  this,  moccasins  are  used  and  have  pro\'ed 

partially  successful. 

Dogs  for   Burdens. 

Dogs  are  the  choice  beasts  of  burden  on  the  overland  routes 
during  the  long  frozen  season,  and  their  points  of  merit  have 
been  recognized  by  a  decided  stiffening  of  prices  in  the  canine 
market.  Good  dogs,  are  worth  from  $100  up,  $200  for  a  fine 
brute  not  being  an  unusual  price.     There  is  not  much  danger  of 


166  HOW    TO    GET  THERE. 

the  supply  running  far  behind  the  demand,  however,  even  at 
Dyea,  for  if  there  is  anything  Alaska  is  "long"  on  besides 
winters  and  mosquitos,  it  is  dogs. 

Robert  Krook  says  that  Eskimo  dogs  will  draw  200  pounds 
each  on  a  sled,  so  that  six  dogs  will  draw  a  year's  supplies  for 
one  man.  He,  however,  puts  in  the  proviso  that  the  sleds 
should  not  have  iron  runners,  because  the  snow  sticks  to  the 
iron  and  increases  the  friction  so  much  that  the  dogs  cannot  haul 
more  than  100  pounds  apiece.  With  brass  runners  this  draw- 
back is  obviated. 

Moccasins  on  Dogs. 

Sometimes  the  feet  of  the  dogs  get  sore,  and  then  the  Indians 
fit  moccasins  on  them  ;  as  soon,  however,  as  the  tenderness  is 
gone  from  their  feet  the  dogs  will  bite  and  tear  the  moccasins 
off.  In  speaking  of  the  dogs,  Mr.  Krook  said  that  they  need 
no  lines  to  guide  them,  and  are  very  intelligent,  learning  readily 
to  obey  a  command  to  turn  in  any  direction  or  to  stop.  They 
have  to  be  watched  closely,  as  they  will  attack  and  devour  stores 
left  in  their  way,  especially  bacon,  which  must  be  hung  up  out 
of  their  reach.  At  night,  when  camp  is  pitched  the  moment  a 
blanket  is  thrown  upon  the  ground  they  will  run  into  it  and 
curl  up,  neither  cuffs  nor  kicks  sufficing  to  budge  them.  They 
lie  as  close  up  to  the  men  who  own  them  as  possible,  and  the 
miner  cannot  wrap  himself  up  so  close  that  they  won't  get  under 
his  blanket  with  him.  They  are  almost  human,  too,  in  their 
disinclinations  to  get  out  in  the  morning. 

Where  sleds  cannot  be  used  the  dogs  will  carry  fifty  pounds 
apiece  in  saddlebags  slung  across  their  backs  pannier  fashion. 
Nature  has  fitted  these  dogs  for  their  work,  and  so  mastiffs  and 
St.  Bernards  are  not  as  serviceable.  The  two  latter  breeds  can- 
not stand  the  intense  cold  so  well,  and,  though  at  first  they  will 
draw  the  sleds  cheerfull)',  their  feet  cannot  resist   the  strain  and 


167 


168  HOW   TO   GET  THERE. 

begin  to  bleed  so  freely  that  the  dogs  are  useless.  The  pads 
under  the  feet  of  the  Eskimo  dogs  are  of  tougher  skin. 

Reindeer  are  to  be  entered  as  rivals  of  the  Esquimo  dogs. 
Twenty  sturdy  bucks  have  been  selected  from  the  United  States 
Government's  reindeer  herd  at  Teller's  Station  and  will  be  taken 
to  Circle  City.  The  design  is  to  materially  decrease  the  cost  of 
overland  transportation  in  winter,  for  the  benefit  of  the  miner. 

Much  care  has  been  exercised  in  the  selection  of  the  herd, 
and  not  one  of  its  members  is  less  than  four  and  one-half  feet 
in  height  and  seven  feet  in  length.  The  minimum  weight  of 
these  bucks  is  250  pounds,  but  some  of  them  are  twenty-five  to 
fifty  pounds  heavier  than  the  lightest.  All  are  vigorous,  healthy 
and  in  good  working  condition.  Their  antlers,  which  curve 
gracefully  backward,  are  about  two  and  one-half  feet  in  length. 
Their  general  color  is  a  soft  seal  brown,  shading  into  black  on 
the  legs,  which  are  covered  with  short,  glossy  hair,  to  which  the 
snow  does  not  adhere. 

A  prime  advantage  of  the  reindeer  over  the  dog  is  the  fact 

that  he  paws  away  the  snow  and  secures  his  own  food,  instead 

of  having  to  add  his  rations  to  the  weight  of  his  burden.     Many 

a  pioneer  prospector,  traveling  by  dog  team,  has  been  placed  in 

a  position  in  which  his  dogs  have  become  useless  from  lack  of 

provisions.      Had  these  unfortunate  pilgrims  been  provided  with 

reindeer  teams,  such  an  emergency  would  not,  in  all  probability, 

have  arisen  ;  and  in  case  of  threatened  starvation  the   traveler's 

means  of  transportation  Avould  have  furnished  him  with  a  liberal 

quantity  of  meat. 

Bicycles  for  Yukon. 

One  of  the  most  novel  and  absurd  of  all  the  schemes  of  trans- 
portation fostered  by  the  stampede  to  the  Yukon  diggings  is  the 
Klondike  bicycle,  theoretically  adapted  to  carry  one  man  and  500 
pounds  of  outfit,  but  practically  useless  because  there  is  not  a 


HOW   TO    GET  THERE.  169 

piece  of  the  wheelmen's  "good  roads"  in  the  territory.  Yet 
some  "  tenderfcct  "  have  been  seen  in  Seattle  armed  and  equipped 
with  just  that  thing.  But  it  is  to  be  hoped  they  were  not  typical 
"  tenderfeet." 

The  Klondike  is  promised  close  communication  with  the  world 
in  a  short  time.  The  Alaska  Telegraph  and  Telephone  Company 
has  been  incorporated  in  San  Francisco  to  construct  a  telegraph 
line  from  Juneau  and  Dyea  to  Dawson  and  Circle  City.  Th^ 
capital  stock  is  ^ioo,ooo.  The  work  of  construction  is  to  be 
pushed  and  it  is  hoped  the  line  will  be  in  working  order  before 
winter.      The  estimated  length  is  10,000  miles. 

The  line  will  be  a  novelty,  as  no  poles  will  be  used  except  in 
crossing  canons  and  rivers.  The  wire,  which  will  be  of  large 
guage,  pure  copper,  will  be  heavily  coated  with  insulating  sub- 
stance and  will  be  laid  along  the  ground.  Stations  will  be  estab- 
lished at  every  fifty  miles.  It  is  thought  that  this  line  will  answer 
perfectly  for  the  present. 

How  it  will  be  Built. 

D.  E.  Bohannon,  the  chief  of  construction  of  the  line,  ex- 
plained its  details  as  follows  : 

"  Our  method  is  very  simple.  The  line  is  to  be  constructed 
on  the  same  plans  as  the  ordinary  military  line  used  by  armies 
for  war  purposes.  We  have  a  wire  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick 
and  covered  with  kerite  insulation,  which  has  proved  able  to 
stand  the  rigorous  climatic  conditions  prevailing  in  Alaska. 

"  The  wire  is  wound  upon  large  reels,  the  same  as  an  ordinary 
telegraph  wire,  and  these  coils  are  to  be  placed  on  dog  sleds  and 
dragged  over  the  ice  and  snow.  As  we  go  along  the  reels  will 
simply  pay  out  the  loose  wire  and  run  it  along  the  ground,  and 
thus  our  line  will  be  through  in  something  like  six  weeks,  the 
time  consumed  in  the  ordinary  tramp  over  the  country." 


170  HOW   TO   GET  THERE. 

The  Dominon  Government  has  made  application  to  the  United 
States  Government  to  be  permitted  to  build  a  telegraph  line  from 
a  navigable  point  on  Linn  Canal,  Alaska,  to  Tagish,  across  the 
summit,  a  distance  of  nearly  lOO  miles,  so  that  communication 
may  be  had  with  the  interior  of  the  Yukon  all  the  year  around. 
It  is  said  that  the  application  will  raise  a  new  question  only  compar- 
able to  that  which  was  involved  in  the  establishment  of  the 
mixed  mail  route  in  Alaska,  which  gave  rise  to  so  much  talk. 

The  Klondike  will  not  be  so  badly  off  for  mails  this  winter. 
The  monthly  letter  mail  which  was  started  by  the  United  States 
Government  the  first  of  July,  1 897,  will  be  continued,  and  there 
will  be  one  round  trip  a  month  to  Circle  City  until  July  i,  1898. 
The  Canadian  Government  has  also  arranged  for  postal  service 
to  Dawson  City. 

The  scheme  of  the  United  States  postal  service  is  interesting. 

Between   Seattle    and    Sitka    the    mail    steamers  ply   regularly. 

Between  Sitka  and  Juneau  there  is  a  closed  pouch  steamboat 

service.      Seattle    makes   up  closed  pouches    for  Douglas,  Fort 

Wrangel,  Juneau,  Killisnoo,  Ketchikan,  Mary  Island,  8itka  and 

Metlakatlah. 

Service    from    Sitka. 

Connecting  at  Sitka  is  another  sea  service  between  that  point 
and  Unalaska,  1400  miles  to  the  west.  This  service  consists  of 
one  trip  a  month  between  Sitka  and  Unalaska  from  April  to 
October  and  leaves  Sitka  immediately  upon  arrival  of  the 
mails  from  Seattle.  Captain  J.  E.  Hanson  is  acting  clerk.  From 
Unalaska  the  mails  are  dispatched  to  St.  Michael's  and  thence  te 
points  on  the  Yukon. 

The  Postoffice  Department  has  perfected  not  only  a  summer 
but  a  winter  star  route  service  between  Juneau  and  Circle  City 
The  route  is  overland  and  by  boats  and  rafts  over  the  lakes  and 
down  the  Yukon,  and  is   900    miles   long.       A  Chicago   man 


HOW   TO    OET  THERE.  171 

named  Beddoe  carries  the  summer  mail,  making  five  trips 
between  June  and  November,  and  is  paid  ;$5O0  a  trip.  Two 
Juneau  men,  Frank  Corvvin  and  Albert  Hayes,  operate  the 
winter  service,  and  draw  for  each  round  trip  ;^  1700  in  gold. 
About  1200  letters  are  carried  on  each  trip. 


FOREST    SCENE    NEAR    SITKA. 


The  Canadian  mail  to  Dawson  City  will  be  carried  by  the 
mounted  police  from  Dyea  to  Skagway. 

In  the  expectation  that  the  boom  in  Alaskan  and  North 
British  mining  stocks  will  be  one  of  the  wildest  in  the  histor}'  of 


172  HOW   TO   GET  THERE. 

the  world,  and  that  the  stock  exchanges  of  London,  New  York, 
Chicago  and  San  Francisco  will  be  willing  to  pay  handsomely 
for  inside  and  speedy  news  from  the  centre  of  excitement  on  the 
Klondike,  some  capitalists  have  conceived  the  idea  of  establish- 
ing a  carrier-pigeon  service  between  Seattle  or  Victoria  and 
Dawson  and  Circle  Cities,  with  Juneau  as  the  "  way  station  "  in 
the  flight.  The  experience  of  Nansen,  the  Arctic  explorer,  with 
carrier  pigeons  in  the  ice  fields  surrounding  the  North  Pole,  has 
demonstrated  the  practicability  of  using  these  birds  in  Alaska 
during  the  coldest  months. 

Plan  of  the   Service. 

The  idea  is  to  transfer  a  number  of  "  breeders  "  to  Victoria, 
the  nearest  telegraphic  station  to  the  Klondike  district,  and  also 
a  number  of  them  to  Juneau  and  Dawson  City,  in  the  heart  of 
the  new  Eldorado.  It  is  believed  that  after  the  birds  shall  have 
been  properly  trained  by  frequent  flights  over  the  country 
between  Dawson  City  and  Juneau,  they  will  be  able  to  cover 
that  extent  of  territory  in  about  twenty-four  hours.  The  birds, 
whose  home  cotes  are  located  in  Victoria,  it  is  believed,  can 
reach  that  place  in  less  than  thirty  hours  after  being  released  at 
Juneau,  a  trip  that  is  seldom  made  in  less  than  three  or  four 
days  by  steamboat,  although  on  one  occasion  it  was  made  from 
Sitka  in  forty-nine  hours.  With  such  a  line  of  communication 
opened  up  it  ought  to  be  possible  for  a  message  written  in  the 
frozen  interior  of  Alaska  to  reach  the  most  distant  parts  of  the 
world  within  a  few  days. 

A  carrier  pigeon,  which  was  taken  from  Portland,  Ore.,  on 
the  steamer  Elder,  to  Dyea,  returned  to  Portland  on  August  9th 
with  the  following  message  : 

"  Dyea,  Aug.  7th.  Arrived  safely  here  last  night.  All  well 
on  board.     T.  Cain." 


HOW   TO   GET  THERE.  173 

In  preparing  to  make  the  long  overland  journey  into  the 
Klondike,  one  of  the  things  of  most  importance  to  be  considered 
and  one  in  which  the  "  tenderfoot "  left  to  himself,  is  most  apt  to 
make  a  serious  blunder  of  omission,  is  the  "  outfit." 

There  are  all  sorts  of  tastes  and  so  there  are  all  sorts  of  out- 
fits, but  the  following  table,  prepared  by  a  man  of  ample  experi- 
ence and  good  appetite,  will  serve  as  a  sample  for  preparing  a 
list  of  the  articles  necessary  for  a  complete  outfit  for  a  year  in 
the  Klondike  diggings  : 

CLOTHING  : — 3  suits  heavy  woolen  underwear,  6  pairs  heavy  woolen 
stockings,  2  pairs  blanket-lined  mittens,  i  heavy  Mackinaw  coat,  2  pairs 
Mackinaw  trousers,  2  dark  woolen  overshirts,  i  heavy  sweater,  i  heavy 
rubber-lined  top  coat,  2  pairs  heavy  hip  rubber  boots,  2  pairs  shoes,  i 
Canadian  toque,  2  pairs  extra  heavy  blankets,  i  suit  oil  skins,  2  pairs 
heavy  overalls,  i  suit  buckskin  underwear,  towels,  needles,  thread,  wax, 
buttons. 

FOOD  : — 350  pounds  flour,  200  pounds  bacon,  150  pounds  beans,  10 
pounds  tea,  75  pounds  cofifee  (browned),  5  pounds  baking  powder,  25 
pounds  salt,  150  pounds  assorted  dried  fruits,  100  pounds  evaporated  vege- 
tables and  dried  meats,  10  pounds  soap,  3  tins  matches,  5  pounds  sac- 
charine, citric  acid. 

HARDWARE:— I  long-handled  shovel,  I  pick,  i  ax,  duplicate  handles, 
5  pounds  wire  nails,  5  pounds  pitch,  3  pounds  oakum,  2  large  files,  hammer, 
jackplane,  brace  and  bits,  large  whipsaw,  hand  saw,  150  feet  ^-inch  rope, 
drawknife,  chisel,  jackknife,  whetstone,  hand  ax,  shaving  outfit,  frying  pan, 
kettle,  Yukon  stove,  bean  pot,  two  plates,  cup,  teapot,  knife,  fork  and  six 
spoons,  2  buckets,  2  miners'  gold  pans. 

ARMAMENT  : — Repeating  rifle,  40-82,  reloading  tools  and  100  rounds 
brass  shell  cartridges,  I  large  hunting  knife,  fishing  tackle,  snow  spectacles. 

CAMPING  OUTFIT  : — Heavy  canvas  tent,  8x10,  pegs  and  guy  ropes, 
I  heavy-lined  canvas  sleeping-bag,  rubber  blanket,  mosquito  netting. 

These  supplies  will  weigh  about  1350  pounds  and  will  cost 
about  ^$225  at  Seattle,  or  at  Juneau,  if  the  rush  of  gold-hunters 
has  not  exhausted  the  supply. 

It  is  important  to  pay  attention  to  a  sufficient  stock  of  anti- 
scorbutics, for  scurvy  is  the  scourge  of  Arctic  residence. 


174  HOW   TO   GET  THERE. 

The  shaving  utensils  listed  may  cause  some  to  smile,  as  they 
think  the  Klondike  is  no  place  for  "  frills,"  but  the  experience  of 
sojourners  in  those  regions  of  long  and  intense  cold  is  that  a 
smooth  face  is  a  positive  comfort.  The  breath's  moisture  con- 
gealing in  moustache  and  beard  is  well  nigh  as  painful  a  trial  in 
winter  in  Alaska  as  the  mosquitos  in  summer.  It  is  comfort 
rather  than  style  to  shave. 

In  making  purchases  the  argonaut  should  bear  in  mind  that 
the  very  best  of  everything  is  none  too  good  and  will  more  than 
repay  the  outlay  in  the  long  run.  The  clothing  and  food  in 
particular  should  be  first  quality  throughout. 

One  of  the  most  indispensable  items  in  the  list  is  the  sleeping 
bag,  with  an  outside  covering  of  heavy  duck  and  lined  with 
warm  lamb's  wool.  It  is  fixed  up  with  handles,  so  that  in  case 
of  necessity  it  can  be  swung  up  in  trees. 

Hip  rubber  boots  are  another  necessary  article,  in  addition  to 
which  a  pair  of  heavy  miner's  boots  is  generally  taken. 

Native   Costume. 

Many  miners  adopt  the  native  costume — and  it  is  comfortable 
as  well  as  highly  serviceable  and  picturesque. 

The  boots,  usually  made  by  the  coast  Indians,  are  of  several 
varieties.  The  water  boot  is  of  seal  and  walrus  skin,  while  the 
dry  weather  or  winter  boot  is  of  all  varieties  of  styles  and 
material.  The  more  expensive  have  fur  trimmed  legs,  elabo- 
rately designed.  They  cost  from  ;$2  to  ^5  a  pair.  Trousers  are 
often  made  of  Siberian  fawn  skin  and  the  skin  of  the  marmot,  or 
ground  squirrel.  The  parka,  or  upper  garment,  is  usually  of 
marmot  skins,  trimmed  with  wolverine  around  the  hood  and 
lower  edge,  the  long  hair  from  the  sides  of  the  wolverine  being 
used  for  the  hood.  This  hair  is  sometimes  five  or  six  inches  in 
length  and  is  useful  in  protecting  the  face  of  the  wearer.     Good, 


HOW   TO   GET  THERE.  175 

warm  flannels  can  be  worn  under  the  parka,  and  the  whole  outfit 
will  weigh  less  than  the  ordinary  clothes  worn  in  a  country  where 
the  weather  gets  down  to  zero.  The  parka  is  almost  cold  proof. 
But  it  is  expensive,  ranging  in  price  from  $25  to  5 100.  Blankets 
and  fur  robes  are  used  for  bedding.  Lynx  skins  make  the  best 
robes.  Good  ones  cost  ;^ioo.  But  the  cheaper  robes  can  be 
made  of  the  skins  of  bears,  mink,  red  fox  and  the  Arctic  hare. 
The  skins  of  the  latter  animal  make  warm  socks  to  be  worn  with 
the  skin  boots. 

A    Cheap    Outfit. 

Outfits  can  be  purchased  more  cheaply  than  the  sample  given 
heretofore,  by  lopping  off  some  of  the  articles.  Here  is  the  bill 
of  one  in  which  each  article  was  of  first-class  quality,  no  groceries 
nor  armament  being  included  : 

3  suits  heavy  -woolen  underwear,  at  ^4  50 ^13  50 

4  pairs  heavy  stockings,  at  40  cents i  60 

2  pairs  German  socks,  at|i.i5 2  30 

I  pair  hunting  stockings i  25 

I  heavy  sweater 4  50 

I  lighter  sweater 2  35 

I  leather  fur-lined  coat,  short 7  00 

I  pair  jeans  trousers,  lined  with  flannel 3  00 

I  Mackinaw  coat 3  00 

I  pair  Mackinaw  trousers 2  50 

I  suit  buckskin  underwear 1200 

I  pair  hip  rubber  boots 5  25 

I  pair  heavy  miners'  boots 5  00 

I  pair  heavy  overshoes 2  10 

4  blankets,  at  I2.40 9  60 

I  pair  leather-lined  mitts I  20 

I  pair  woolen  mitts I  00 

I  sleeping  bag 12  50 

I  sleeping  cap 75 

4  canvas  carrying  bags 2  00 

Tools,  including  two  miners'  pans,  picks,  shovels,  axes, 

saw,  file,  knife 7  32 

Total I99  72 


176  HOW   TO   GET  THERE. 

Some  men  buy  sheepskin  coats  and  vests,  horsehide  coats  and 
trousers  at  ;^i8  a  suit  and  extra  supplies  of  "jumbo  "  undercloth- 
ing. Some  other  men,  remembering  only  the  outfits  carried  to 
Harqua  Hala  or  Leadville,  squeeze  all  their  supplies  into  a  $100 
bill,  but  it  is  safe  to  say  their  frugality  is  "  penny  wise  and  pound 
foolish." 

Here  is  a  list  of  provisions  sufficient  for  one  man  for  a  month, 
made  by  an  expert.      [He  probably  was  not  a  heavy  eater. — Ed.] 

20  pounds  flour,  with  baking  powder,  12  pounds  bacon,  6  pounds  beans, 
S  pounds  desiccated  vegetables,  4  pounds  butter,  5  pounds  sugar,  4  cans  milk, 
I  pound  tea,  3  pounds  coffee,  2  pounds  salt,  5  pounds  cornmeal,  pepper, 
mustard. 

One  of  the  men  who  has  "  been  there  "  has  the  following  to 
say  of  the  cost  of  the  provisions  a  prospector  should  take  with 
him  : 

"  No  one  should  venture  into  the  region  without  some  cash 
and  a  sufficient  supply  of  provisions  to  last  eight  months.  One 
should  buy  these  things  in  Juneau,  and  he  should  start  out  with 
something  like  the  following:  400  pounds  of  flour,  100  pounds 
of  beans,  100  pounds  of  bacon,  100  pounds  of  sugar,  "lo  pounds 
of  tea,  30  pounds  of  coffee,  150  pounds  of  mixed  fruit,  salt, 
pepper  and  cooking  utensils.  The  whole  outfit  can  be  purchased 
well  within  jggo.  The  cost  of  conveying  this  stock  of  provisions 
to  the  headwaters  of  Lake  Linderman  will  average  about  $  1 5  per 
100,  but  even  that  makes  it  considerably  cheaper  than  the  same 
goods  can  be  purchased  in  the  mining  camp. 

Value    of   Salt. 

Just  how  valuable  salt  sometimes  becomes  in  the  gold  fields 
is  illustrated  in  a  story  told  by  a  miner  who  lately  returned  from 
there.  His  party  ran  out  of  that  useful  article,  and  it  seemed 
that  they  would  die  without  it.     They  came  across  another  party 


HOW   TO    GET   THERE.  177 

that  had  salt,  but  refused  to  part  with  it.  A  pitched  battle  was 
about  to  begin  for  possession  of  the  salt,  when  some  one  sug- 
gested that  those  who  owned  the  salt  were  not  overly  flush  with 
gold  dust,  while  those  who  had  no  salt  had  plenty  of  gold.  It 
was  then  arranged  that  gold  should  be  weighed  against  the  salt, 
and  this  was  done. 

And  after  this  story  of  the  salt,  which  needs  not  to  be  taken 
with  a  grain  of  that  condiment,  it  is  well  to  reiterate  to  every 
gold  hunter  going  out  to  winter  in  the  Klondike  fields  : 

"  Take  your  own  grub — and  plenty  of  it." 

Food   in  Compact    Form. 

To  those  who  find  something  terrifying  about  a  heavy  outfit, 
with  packers'  prices  over  the  passes  at  twenty  cents  a  pound  and 
upwards,  it  may  be  suggested  that  many  staple  articles  of  food 
have  been  prepared  in  the  utmost  condensed  or  concentrated 
forms  for  the  use  of  soldiers  in  the  field,  and  will  no  doubt  be 
equally  as  nourishing.to  prospectors,  while  enabling  them  to  carry 
extensive  supplies  in  small  bulk. 

For  instance,  a  cup  of  tea  or  coffee  is  crowded  into  the  size 
and  form  of  a  quinine  capsule,  a  mince  pie  is  the  size  of  a  cough 
drop,  and  other  delicacies  are  in  proportion.  Soup  "  buttons  " 
are  prepared  in  the  same  way,  with  meat,  vegetables  and  season- 
ing all  ready  for  hot  water.  A  loaf  of  bread  is  compressed  into 
the  size  and  shape  of  a  soda  cracker,  which  swells  up  to  normal 
size  when  put  in  hot  water.  Ten  pounds  of  vegetables  are  put 
into  one-pound  can,  and  a  cubic  ounce  of  desiccated  beef  is 
equal  in  nourishment  to  several  pounds  of  fresh  meat. 

Prospectors  who  go  out  by  the  St.  Michael's  route,  if  they 

purpose  wintering  on  the  Klondike,  or  in  Upper  Alaska,  will  not 

need  to  take  so  elaborate  a  provision  supply  by  the  amount  of 

at  least  three  months'  consumption,  but  they  had  better  keep 

12 


178  HOW   TO   GET   THERE. 

pretty  dose  to  the  clothing,  hardware,  armament  and  camping 
schedules.  They  will  find  it  advisable  not  to  omit  the  food  item 
altogether  unless  they  have  good  assurance  that  the  supplies 
brought  in  by  the  trading  companies  will  be  ample. 

Robert    Krook's   Advice. 

Lest  any  should  think  too  much  stress  has  been  laid  on  tht 
matter  of  supplies  to  be  taken  into  the  Klondike,  these  words 
of  Robert  Krook,  the  young  Swedish  miner,  who  returned  from 
Dawson  City  during  the  summer,  are  given  in  full : 

"Every  one  who  goes  to  Alaska  must  rely  mainly  on  two 
establishments  for  supplies.  Even  those  who  have  a  good  outfit 
will  find  it  often  necessary  to  patronize  one  or  other  of  the  stores. 
Prices  are  on  an  average  three  times  as  high  as  at  Juneau  or  St. 
Michael's,  and  four  to  five  times  as  steep  as  in  San  Francisco. 
When  the  winter  is  nearly  over  and  supplies  begin  to  run  short 
prices  are,  as  a  consequence,  raised.  Toward  the  close  of  last 
winter,  before  the  new  supplies  came  up  the  river,  prices  were 
doubled. 

"All  through  the  winter  men  arrive  at  such  mining  towns  as 
Dawson  City,  bringing  with  them  from  one  to  two  tons  of  food 
and  clothing.  They  go  up  the  streams  and  peddle  their  goods, 
taking  care  to  lose  nothing  for  their  time  and  trouble. 

"To  one  blacksmith  shop  all  miners  must  go  or  send  when 
they  have  tools  to  be  repaired,  or  when  they  need  anything 
made  to  order  which  the  stores  cannot  supply. 

"  Dawson  City  can  boast  of  two  good  practicing  physicians — 
Police  Surgeon  Willis  and  another  doctor  who  went  from  Circle 
City  to  Dawson  last  year.  They  carry  their  own  supplies  of 
staple  drugs  and  medicines,  so  as  to  be  able  to  compound  their 
own  prescriptions.  Ordinary  remedies  are  to  be  obtained  at  the 
two  trading  stores. 


HOW   TO  GET  THERE.  179 

"  I  think  it  well  to  mention  that  the  credit  system  has  been 
entirely  done  away  with  in  Dawson.  No  one  can  make  a  pur- 
chase of  any  kind  without  the  necessary  cash  in  the  shape  of  dust. 
Of  course  it  must  not  be  understood  that  we  would  let  a  man 
starve,  but  on  the  other  hand,  no  one  must  expect  to  be  sup- 
ported by  the  generosity  of  the  people.  We  are  all  hard  workers 
up  there,  and  if  any  man  will  work  he  can  always  make  a  living. 

"The  impression  seems  to  prevail  that  the  mines  are  close  to 

Dawson  City.     That  is  a  mistake.     The  rich  creeks  are  fifteen 

miles  off,  and  it  is  a  day's  journey  to  reach  them.     The  camp 

there  is  as  pretty  a  place  as  one  desires  to  see.     The  white  tents 

and  huts  of  the  miners  are  scattered  along  the   banks   of  ther 

creeks  or  built  on  the  mountain  sides,  as  convenience  or  fancy 

dictated." 

Medicine   Chest. 

Another  thing  which  all  prospectors  should  be  careful  to  take 
along  is  a  piedicine  chest.  Doctors  are  few,  distances  long  and 
emergencies  of  health  or  limb  often  most  urgent  in  the  Yukon 
mining  camps. 

Here  is  a  list  of  contents  of  a  medicine   chest,   whose  cost  is 

within  ;^io,  and  every  article  of  which  is  useful  in  the  wilderness. 

Quinine  pills 50 

Compound  cathartic  pills 50 

Acetanilid  tablets 3  dozen 

Chlorate  potash I  box 

Mustard  plasters 6 

Belladonna  plasters     . 6 

Carbolic  salve 4  ounces 

Chloroform  liniment 8  ounces 

Witch  hazel i  pint 

Essence  ginger 4  ounces 

Paregoric 4  ounces 

Laudanum i  ounce 

Borax 4  ounces 

Tincture  iodine i  ounce 


180  HOW   TO    GET  THERE. 

Spirits  nitre 2  ounces 

Tincture  iron i  ounce 

Cough  mixture 8  ounces 

Toothache  drops i  bottle 

Vaseline i  bottle 

Iodoform 2  drams 

Lint 2  yards 

Assorted  bandages ^  dozen 

Rubber  adhesive  plasters 2  feet 

Absorbent  cotton 4  ounces 

Monsell's  salts  for  hemorrhages — In  quantities  in  accordance 
with  the  person's  liability  to  attacks  of  the  trouble. 

Health   and  the  Klondike. 

As  a  rule,  no  one  in  ordinary  health  and  strength  need  fear 
to  winter  in  the  Klondike  or  to  risk  the  hardships  incident  to 
getting  there,  merely  on  account  of  the  Arctic  cold.  The  brac- 
ing effect  of  the  northern  climate  will  probably  prove  beneficial 
to  many.  Snow  and  ice  are  in  themselves  rather  unpleasant 
than  unhealthful.  Scientific  records  have  well  established  that 
longevity  increases  as  residence  is  advanced  from  the  equator 
towards  the  poles.  There  is  more  risk  of  disease  in  a  voyage  to 
Panama  or  India  than  in  one  to  Behring  Strait  or  Herschel  Island. 

But  weak  hearts  and  weak  lungs  cannot  face  northern  blasts. 
Rheumatism  unfits  for  such  tests.  People  of  purely  sedentary 
habits  take  big  chances  on  the  overland  trails  and  in  the  gulches. 
Weak  eyes  would  be  severely  tried  and,  perhaps,  blinded  by  the 
glare  of  the  snow-clad  land.  Physical  exhaustion,  colds, 
scurvy,  rheumastism  and  snow  blindness  are  the  ills  chiefly  to  be 
dreaded  by  the  Alaskan  gold-hunters,  and  any  who  are  subject 
to  troubles  of  the  heart,  throat  or  lungs  should  stay  religiously 
away  from  the  Klondike.  The  medicine  chest  would  be  a  futile 
resort  for  them,  and  some  volunteer  sexton  would  likely  do  for 
them  the  last  earthly  office  before  the  Alaskan  spring  bloomed 
in  May. 


-■i 


HOW   TO    GET  THERE.  181 

But  now  that  the  daring  prospector  is  in  the  Klondike  and 
washing  out  the  precious  dust,  his  next  thought  will  be,  as  his 
"  pile  "  grows,  to  get  out  and  back  to  the  baked  meats,  and  flesh 
pots  of  civilization.  Hear  what  Mrs.  Frederick  Schwatka,  who 
had  much  personal  experience  in  Alaska,  and  got  the  benefit  of 
much  more  vicariously  from  pioneers  returning  from  the  wilder- 
ness, has  to  say  about  "  how  to  get  out :  " 

"  This  getting  back  is  a  formidable  undertaking  that  appalls 
so  many.  They  choose  rather  to  remain  whole  winters  doing 
practically  nothing  that  brings  in  more  than  a  bare  existence. 
In  getting  out  it  is  necessary  to  make  progress  against  the  600 
miles  of  swift  river  current.  Rowing  is  out  of  the  question, 
walking  and  poling  being  the  methods  used.  The  poles  are 
about  twelve  feet  long  and  made  of  seasoned  spruce  saplings 
and  sharpened  at  the  butt  end.  Sometimes  an  iron  spike  is  put 
in,  otherwise  it  must  be  sharpened  two  or  three  times  a  day. 
Two  polemen  stand  in  bow  and  stern.  To  stand  all  day  in  a 
wabbling,  cranky  boat,  and  work  like  a  beaver  until  six  or  seven 
hundred  miles  are  traversed  at  about  fifteen  miles  a  day  is  in 
itself  a  formidable  undertaking.  Then  the  great  pass  must  be 
scaled  without  any  assistance,  for  there  are  no  Indians  now  to 
help.  Here  it  is  that  many  a  discouraged  miner  has  given  up  all 
hope  and  found  a  grave  in  the  ice-covered  mountains.  It  is  the 
thought  of  again  seeing  something  of  civilization  and  the  outside 
world  that  buoys  up  the  traveler  by  this  difficult  trail." 


CHAPTER  V. 
A  Land  of  Wonders. 

Land  of  the  Midnight  Sun — Great  Distances — Primitive  Conveyances — Ter 
rors  of  the  Arctic  Regions — World  of  Wonders — Dangers  of  Travel — A 
Great  Glacier — A  Frozen  Cataract — Beautiful  Scenery — Rush  of  Tor- 
rents— Marvelous  Sunsets — Great  Yukon  River — Cation  of  Lewis  River 
— Dominion  of  the  Frost  King — Towering  Volcanoes — The  Winter 
Moon — A  Country  of  Romance — Totem  Poles — Salmon  Fisheries — Vast 
Solitudes — The  Alaskan  Natives. 

THE  man  who  goes  from  southern  latitudes  to  seek  his  for- 
tune in  Alaska  will  leave  familiar  scenes  for  a  land  of 
wonders.  His  first  experience  will  of  necessity  be  one  of 
surprise.  He  will  find  a  country  of  new  people,  new  scenes, 
and  new  modes  of  life. 

Every  one  who  has  visited  the  land  about  which  so  much  has 
been  written  and  printed  relative  to  the  gold  findings  tells  the 
same  story  of  the  matchless  grandeur  of  the  territory.  With 
few  exceptions  all  give  the  same  report  of  the  peoples  and  mar- 
vels there  to  be  seen. 

It  is  the  land  of  the  midnight  sun  and  the  mid-day  moon ;  of 
salt  water  intruding  hundreds  of  miles  into  the  country,  between 
mountains  that  overhang  it  in  such  a  way  as  to  excite  a  feeling 
of  awe ;  of  the  Aurora  Borealis,  the  displays  of  which  are  more 
mafinificent  than  are  ever  witnessed  in  southern  regions.  It  is  a 
land  of  majestic  mountains,  of  vast  inland  seas,  of  stupendous 
glaciers,  compared  with  which  those  of  the  old  world  are  but 
trifling  affairs.  It  is  a  land  from  which  thundering  icebergs  come 
plunging  into  the  sea  and  float  off  in  their  glory  of  inimitable 
splendor.  It  is  a  land  of  exceeding  wealth  in  fish,  in  timber,  in 
minerals.  And,  above  all,  it  is  the  land  in  which  many  think  the 
182 


A   LAND   OF    WONDERS.  183 

mother  lode  of  the  gold  supply  of  the  Western  Continent  is  to 
be  found. 

One  of  the  first  things  that  will  be  forced  upon  the  visitor 
will  be  the  fact  that  Alaska  is  a  country  of  magnificent  distances. 
It  is  nine  times  the  size  of  the  New  England  states;  twice  the 
size  of  Texas  and  three  times  as  large  as  California.  It  stretches 
more  than  looo  miles  from  north  to  south,  and  extends  west  to 
the  extreme  limit  of  the  Aleutian  Islands. 

Few  people  in  the  United  States,  probably,  are  aware  of  the 
fact  that  the  gold  fields  which  are  attracting  so  much  attention 
are  pretty  nearly  on  the  medial  line  of  the  United  States  from 
east  to  west.  From  Sitka,  for  instance,  westward  to  the  limit  of 
the  Aleutian  Islands,  it  is  nearly  3000  miles ;  and  eastward  from 
the  same  point  it  is  not  over  about  3500  miles  to  the  most  east- 
erly coast  of  Maine. 

The  name  of  the  country  itself  is  simply  a  designation  for  the 
immensity  of  its  territory — a  wonder.  It  is  a  corruption  of  the 
Indian  name  Al-ay-ke-sa,  which  was  given  by  the  native  island- 
ers to  the  mainland,  and  which  signifies  "great  country."  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  territory  contains  nearly  600,000  square  miles ; 
and  it  is  thus  nearly  one-fifth  as  large  as  all  the  other  states  and 
territories  of  the  Union  combined.  It  would  make  more  than 
twelve  states  the  size  of  New  York. 

Poor  Transit  Conveyances. 

These  enormous  distances  soon  impress  themselves  upon  the 
traveler,  and  the  sense  of  interminable  space  is  accentuated  by 
the  lack  of  ordinary  transit  facilities.  Alaska  is  a  land  in  which 
the  steam  train  is  not  known,  and  it  may  safely  be  said  that  a 
large  proportion  of  the  people  living  in  the  country  have  never 
heard  of  such  a  thing  as  a  railroad.  Even  horses  and  wagons 
are  virtually  things  unknown.     The  country  has  too  rigorous  a 


184  A   LAND   OF  WONDERS. 

climate  for  the  successful  use  of  any  beasts  of  burden  other  than 
dogs.  Hence,  dogs  as  pack  animals  and  as  steeds  for  sledges 
have  become  one  of  the  chief  possessions  of  the  people. 

These  vast  stretches  of  country  are  also  observable  in  the 
marked  differences  of  climate.  Southern  Alaska  is  really  a  dif- 
ferent country  than  the  more  northern  districts  in  which  the  gold 
fields  of  the  Yukon  have  been  found.  William  H.  Seward  some 
years  ago,  writing  from  Berlin,  makes  use  of  these  words:  "We 
have  seen  of  Germany  enough  to  show  that  its  climate  is  neither 
so  genial,  nor  its  soil  so  fertile,  nor  its  resources  of  forests  and 
mines  so  rich  as  those  of  southern  Alaska." 

Akin  to  Norway. 

In  climate  and  all  physical  features  southeastern  Alaska  is  but 
a  repetition  of  southern  Norway.  It  enjoys,  however,  a  greater 
wealth  of  forests.  In  latitude,  configuration,  temperature,  rain- 
fall and  ocean  currents  it  is  identical.  Norwegians,  therefore, 
could  be  transplanted  to  Sitka  and  its  neighborhood,  and,  barring 
the  lack  of  improvements  of  the  old  world,  would  scarcely  real- 
ize that  their  location  had  been  changed.  During  the  thirty-six 
years  that  the  Russians  kept  meteorological  records  in  Sitka  the 
mercury  went  below  zero  but  four  times. 

A  comparison  here  may  be  of  interest.  St.  Johns,  New- 
foundland, is  literally  beset  by  icebergs  in  summer,  and  its  har- 
bor in  the  winter  time  is  virtually  frozen  solid.  Yet  Sitka,  which 
is  ten  degrees  north  of  it  has  always  an  open  roadstead,  and  it  is 
only  the  ends  of  the  longer  fiords  that  are  ever  covered  by  ice. 

Again  it  is  pointed  out  that  Sitka  Castle,  which  is  three  miles 
north  of  Balmoral  Castle,  in  Scotland,  has  a  higher  average  win- 
ter temperature  than  the  highland  home.  In  southern  Alaska 
the  snow  rarely  lies  on  the  ground  at  the  sea  level.  The  mist 
and  rains  reduce  it  to  slush  almost  as  quickly  as  in  Kentucky  or 


A   LAND   OF   WONDERS.  185 

the  District  of  Columbia,  the  isothermal  equals  of  this  region. 
We  hear  much  of  snow  shoes  in  connection  with  Alaskan  life, 
and  yet  skating  is  one  of  the  rarest  of  pleasures  for  the 
Sitkans. 

It  is  a  different  matter,  however,  when  one  pierces  the  interior 
and  wends  his  way  over  the  mountain  tops  or  through  the  valleys 
or  along  the  mighty  streams  to  the  gold  fields.  As  one  ascends 
farther  north,  with  the  change  of  scenes  comes  a  change  of  air, 
till  in  the  neighborhood  of  Dawson  City,  Circle  City,  Klondike, 
and  the  other  mining  camps,  it  is  no  unusual  thing  for  the  mer- 
cury to  fall  from  sixty  to  ninety  degrees  below  zero. 

Nine  months  of  the  year  in  these  ncrthern  regions  the  ground 
is  frozen  to  the  depth  of  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet  as  solid  as  a  rock. 
Even  in  summer,  which  there  is  virtually  but  three  months,  the 
ground  rarely  thaws  out  more  than  from  two  to  two  and  a  half 
inches. 

People  who  invade  these  northern  districts  find  that  a  new 
mode  of  life  is  forced  upon  them.  The  clothing  which  would  be 
comfortable  even  in  Sitka  no  longer  furnishes  adequate  warmth, 
and  as  a  result,  those  who  can  do  so,  usually  adopt  the  native 
costume,  and  dress  largely  in  furs. 

W^onders  to  Marvel  At. 

The  voyager,  be  he  excursionist  or  miner,  thus  finds  an  endless 
variety  of  things  to  admire,  to  wonder  at  and  to  ponder  over. 
He  will  scarcely  believe  his  senses  or  realize  the  fact  that  in  sail- 
ing up  the  vast  inland  arms  of  the  sea,  which  extend  often  hun- 
dreds of  miles  toward  the  interior,  to  which  he  is  bound,  he  is 
really  riding  on  salt  water,  mere  inlets  of  the  Pacific  Ocean.  It 
scarcely  seems  possible  to  one  that  he  can  glide  along  day  after 
day  and  week  after  week,  if  need  be,  without  encountering  a 
single  wave  or  a  single  ripple  to  disturb  the  motion  of  the  vessel, 


186  A    LAND   OF   WONDERS. 

and  yet,  at  the  same  time,  be  all  the  time  on  the  ocean  and  have 
the  benefits  of  an  ocean  trip. 

Those  who  have  made  the  journey  over  Alaskan  waters  say 
the  only  realizing  sense  they  have  of  the  character  of  the  voyage 
is  the  voracious  appetite  engendered,  without  the  accompaniment 
of  the  much  dreaded  monster — sea  sickness. 

The  islands,  too,  by  which  the  vessel  glides,  will  be  a  constant 
source  of  wonder.  One  will  marvel  how,  and  when,  and  why, 
these  islands  past  which  he  rides  were  formed — islands,  some  of 
them  no  larger  than  a  good  sized  house,  and  others  large  enough 
to  be  empires  in  themselves. 

Channels  a  Menace. 

Not  infrequently  the  traveler  has  to  pass  through  narrow  and 
serpentine  passages,  which  can  only  be  navigated  at  slack  and 
high  tide  on  account  of  the  teriffic  current  which  rushes  through 
the  straits  at  other  times.  These  channels  are  often  hundreds  of 
miles  in  length  and  as  straight  as  an  arrow.  Many  of  them  are 
almost  unfathomable  in  depth  and  are  banked  on  either  side  by 
perpendicular  and  gigantic  mountains,  whose  untrod  summits  are 
clothed  in  ice  and  clouds. 

The  impression  given  the  traveler  is  very  much  the  same  as 
that  afforded  by  the  somewhat  similar  scenery  of  upper  Norway. 
In  a  general  sense  there  is  the  same  bleakness  observable  on  the 
mountains,  a  somewhat  similar  stunted  vegetation  and  an  almost 
identical  invasion  of  the  mainland  by  the  sea.  But  what  the  trav- 
eler will  not  find  in  Norway  or  in  any  other  part  of  the  world  are 
the  matchless  glaciers  that,  in  common  acceptance,  are  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  features  of  Alaska  scenery. 

The  traveler  will  see  a  number  of  them  on  his  way  to  Juneau, 
glittering  in  the  distance  and  apparently  bleak  and  inaccessible. 
As  he    gets    farther    into    the  country,   these    glaciers   become 


A   LAND    OF   WONDERS.  107 

greater  in  size  and  more  numerous.  It  ha.s  been  said  that  the 
largest  glacier  in  Switzerland  would  not  make  more  than  a 
respectable  sized  nose  if  it  could  be  transferred  bodily,  to  the 
face  of  one  of  these  sleeping  giants  in  the  fastnesses  of  Alaska. 

The  Great  Muir  Glacier. 

Here,  again,  a  comparison  will  be  of  service  to  enable  one  to 
appreciate  the  wonders  of  Alaska  scenery.  Of  the  Norwegian 
glaciers,  which  may  be  most  fairly  used  for  comparison  with  the 
Muir,  the  Jodtesalbrae,  the  largest  glacier  in  Europe,  lies  three 
degrees  north  of  the  Muir,  at  an  elevation  of  3000  feet  above 
the  sea.      It  covers  470  square  miles. 

The  Muir  glacier  drains  an  area  of  800  square  miles,  and  the 
actual  ice  surface  covers  about  350  square  miles.  The  mass  of 
it  is  thirty-five  miles  long  and  from  ten  to  fifteen  miles  wide,  and 
lies  but  a  few  hundred  feet  above  the  sea  level.  It  is  fed  by 
twenty-six  tributary  streams,  seven  of  which  are  over  a  mile  in 
width. 

If  all  their  affluents  were  named  and  counted,  as  in  Switzer- 
land, the  Muir  might  boast  two  hundred  branches  or  tributary 
glaciers  in  its  system.  The  mountain  gateway,  two  and  a  half 
miles  wide,  through  which  it  pours  to  the  sea,  is  formed  b}- 
spurs  of  Mt.  Case,  5510  feet  high,  and  Mt.  Wright,  4944  feet 
high.  All  the  mountains  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  glacier 
average  from  4000  to  6000  feet  in  height. 

For  further  comparison  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  the 
Svartisen,  the  snow  glacier  of  the  Norway  coast,  about  eight 
degrees  north  of  the  Muir  and  on  the  line  of  the  Arctic  circle, 
is  an  ice  mantle  forty-four  miles  long  and  from  twelve  to 
twenty-five  miles  wide,  occupying  a  plateau  4000  feet  above  the 
sea.  The  Swiss  glaciers,  all  lying  from  4000  to  6000  feet 
iibove  the  sea  are  Hke  those  of  Mt.  Ranier,  and  in  no  way  to  be 


188  A   LAND    OF   WONDERS. 

compared  with  the  Muir,  twenty  of  whose  arms  exceed  the  Mer 
de  Glace  in  size  ! 

Apropos  of  the  Muir  glacier  one  cannot  do  better  than  to 
quote  a  few  words  from  the  lamented  Kate  Field  on  Alaskan 
glaciers  in  general  and  the  Muir  glacier  in  particular.  Says 
she: 

"  Soon  after  leaving  Wrangel,  the  first  Alaskan  glacier  is  seen 
in  the  distance,  looking  like  a  frozen  river  emerging  from  the 
home  of  the  clouds.  The  sea  is  glassy,  and  a  procession  of 
small  bergs,  broken  away  from  the  glacier,  float  silently  toward 
the  south.  It  is  Nature's  dead  march  to  the  sun,  to  melt  in  its 
burning  kisses,  and  to  be  transplanted  into  happy  tears.  Wild 
ducks  fly  past,  and  from  his  eyrie  a  bald-headed  eagle  surveys 
the  scene — deeply,  darkly,  beautifully  blue — apparently  con- 
scious that  he  is  the  symbol  of  the  Republic. 

"  There  are  glaciers  and  glaciers.  In  Switzerland  a  glacier  is 
a  vast  bed  of  dirty  air-holed  ice  that  has  fastened  itself,  like  a 
cold  porous-plaster,  to  the  side  of  an  Alp.  Distance  alone 
lends  enchantment  to  the  view.  In  Alaska  a  glacier  is  a  won- 
derful torrent  that  seems  to  have  been  suddenly  frozen  when 
about  to  plunge  into  the  sea.  Down  and  about  mountains  wind 
these  snow-clad  serpents,  extending  miles  inland,  with  as  many 
arms  sometimes  as  an  octopus. 

A  Frozen  Niagara. 

"  Wonderfully  picturesque  is  the  Davidson  glacier,  but  more 
extended  is  the  Muir  glacier,  which  marks  the  extreme  northerly 
points  of  pleasure  travel.  Imagine  a  glacier  three  miles  wide 
and  three  hundred  feet  high  at  its  mouth.  Think  of  Niagara 
Falls  frozen  stiff,  add  thirty-six  feet  to  its  height,  and  you  have 
a  slisrht  idea  of  the  terminus  of  Muir  Glacier,  in  front  of  which 
your  steamer  anchors  ;  picture  a  background  of  mountains  fifteen 


A  LAND   OF  WONDERS. 


189 


thousand  feet  high,  all  snow  clatl,  and  then  imagine  a  gorgeous 
sun  lighting  up  the  ice  crystals  with  rainbow  coloring. 

"  The  face  of  the  glacier  takes  on  the  hue  of  aquamarine,  the 
hue  of  every  bit  of  floating  ice,  big  and  little,  that  surrounds  the 
steamer  and  makes  navigation  serious.  These  dazzling  serpents 
move  at  the  rate  of  sixty-four  feet  a  day,  tumbling  headlong 


MOUNTAIN    SCENE    IN    ALASKA. 


into  the  sea,  and,  as  it  falls,  the  ear  is  startled  with  submarine 
thunder,  the  echoes  of  which  resound  far  and  near.  Down, 
down,  down  goes  the  berg,  and  woe  to  the  boat  in  its  way  when 
it  again  rises  to  the  surface." 

If  the  tide  is  right,  the  traveler  will  hear  the  thundering  crash 
caused    by  the    icebergs    breaking    off  from   the    glaciers    and 


100  A    LAND   OF   WONDERS. 

Lumbling  into  the  water.      It  is  no  unusual  thing  for  a  vessel  on 
these  inland  arms  of  the  ocean  to  be  literally  in  a  sea  of  ice. 

A  Picture  of  Beauty. 

This  is  declared  to  be  one  of  the  most  beautiful  pictures  man 
ever  witnessed,  and  many  of  the  thousands  of  people,  who  have 
left  southern  latitudes  to  wend  their  way  into  the  fastnesses  of 
Alaskan  territory  have  written  home  in  the  most  glowing  terms 
of  the  wonders,  witnessed,  especially  in  the  ocean  part  of  their 
journey.  Of  these  descriptions  none,  perhaps,  is  more  striking 
or  will  convey  a  better  idea  of  what  travel  in  these  solitudes 
really  is  than  the  words  of  Miss  Skidmore,  who  threaded  the 
wilderness  and  wrote  a  book  on  her  experierces      Says  she : 

"  Life  on  the  waveless  arms  of  the  ocean  „as  a  great  fascina- 
tion on  one  of  these  Alaskan  trips,  and,  crowded  with  novelty, 
incidents  and  surprises  as  each  day  is,  the  cruise  seems  all  too 
short  when  the  end  approaches.  One  dreads  to  get  to  land 
again  and  end  the  easy,  idle  wandering  through  the  long  archi- 
pelago. 

"  The  voyage  is  but  one  protracted  marine  picnic,  and  an 
unbroken  succession  of  memorable  days.  Where  in  all  the  list 
of  them  to  place  the  red  letter  or  the  white  stone  puzzles  one. 
The  passengers  beg  the  captain  to  reverse  the  engines,  or  boldly 
turn  back  and  keep  up  the  cruise  until  the  autumn  gales  make 
us  willing  to  return  to  the  region  of  earthly  cares  and  responsi- 
bilities, daily  mails  and  telegraph  wires.  The  long  nightless 
days  never  lose  their  spells,  and  in  retrospect  the  wonders  of  the 
northland  appear  the  greater. 

"  The  weeks  of  continuous  travel  over  deep,  placid  waters,  in 
the  midst  of  magnificent  scenery,  might  be  a  journey  of  explora- 
tion on  a  new  continent,  so  different  is  it  from  anything  else  in 
American  travel.     Seldom  is  anvthinsf  but  an  Indian  canoe  met. 


A   LAiND   OF   WONDERS.  191 

('"or  days  no  sign  of  settlement  is  seen  along  the  quiet  fiords, 
and  making  nocturnal  visits  to  small  fisheries,  only  the  unbroken 
wilderness  is  in  sight  during  waking  hours. 

"  The  anchoring  in  strange  places,  the  going  to  and  fro  in 
small  boats,  the  queer  people,  the  strange  life,  the  peculiar  fas- 
cination of  the  frontier  and  the  novelty  of  the  whole  thing 
affects  one  strangely.  Each  arm  of  the  sea,  and  the  unknown, 
unexplored  wilderness  that  lies  back  of  every  mile  of  shore, 
continually  tempt  the  imagination." 

No  one  can  give  so  good  an  idea  of  the  marvels  and  delights 
of  this  strange  and  virtually  unknown  country  as  those  who 
have  actually  made  an  extended  journey  in  it,  and  no  apology, 
therefore,  is  made  for  the  insertion  of  a  passage  written  by 
another  traveler,  who,  like  Miss  Skidmore,  went  where  few  readers 
of  this  book  have  been  privileged  to  go.  Speaking  of  the  won- 
derful scenery  of  the  country  the  writer  says  : 

"  It  is,  perhaps,  a  little  remarkable  that  the  marvelous  pano- 
rama of  fantastic  peaks,  rushing  streams,  huge  glaciers  and  mad- 
dened cataracts  in  no  way  lessens  the  enjo)'ment  or  appreciation 
of  the  mountains  by  the-s^a,  that  pass  in  review  during  the  trip 

to  Alaska. 

Through    Noisy  Torrents. 

"  In  one  case  the  traveler  is  rushing  onward,  literally  at  rail- 
way speed,  now  passing  through  the  shoulder  of  a  mountain,  and 
now  round  the  base  of  another,  sometimes  through  primeval 
forests,  sometimes  by  the  side  of  a  noisy  torrent  or  deep  caiion, 
and  sometimes  through  a  secluded  valley ;  and  in  the  other 
instance  he  is  gliding  along  the  deep  but  placid  waters  of  the 
landlocked  arms  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  on  the  undisturbed  sur- 
face of  immeasurable  depths,  while  the  snow  capped  heights  are 
within  pistol  shot  of  where  he  sits,  and  the  rugged  precipices  fall 
sheer  into  the  depths  almost  at  his  side. 


192  A  LAND   OF  WONDERS. 

"  The  entire  length  of  this  inland  passage  of  over  looo  miles 
is  heavily  timbered.  Great  avalanches  of  snow  have  swept  down 
the  mountains  here  and  there,  and  in  their  devastating  tracks 
long  streaks  of  timber  have  been  mowed  down.  At  intervals, 
little  Indian  villages  dot  the  shores,  resting  most  picturesquely 
upon  narrow  shelves  just  at  the  edge  of  tide  water,  Through- 
out the  whole  stretch  of  country,  travel  by  land  is  almost  impos- 
sible owing  to  the  dense  timber   and  underbrush  that  cover  its 

surface." 

By   Another   W^itness. 

One  who  nas  traveled  far  and  wide  (the  Marquis  of  Dufiferin 
and  Ava)  pithily  describes  the  trip  through  these  waters  : 

"  Such  a  spectacle  as  its  (British  Columbia)  coast  line  presents 
is  not  to  be  paralleled  by  any  country  in  the  world.  Day  after 
day,  for  a  whole  week,  in  a  vessel  of  nearly  2000  tons,  we 
threaded  an  interminable  labyrinth  of  watery  lanes  and  reaches, 
that  wound  endlessly  in  and  out  of  a  network  of  islands,  prom- 
ontories and  peninsulas  for  thousands  of  miles,  unruffled  by 
the  slightest  swell  from  the  adjoining  ocean,  and  presenting  at 
every  turn  an  ever-shifting  combination  of  rock,  verdure,  glacier 
and  snow-capped  mountains  of  unrivalled  grandeur  and  beauty.  " 

H.  Juneau,  one  of  the  founders  of  Juneau,  Alaska,  giv^es  a 
similar  account.     Says  he  : 

"  Along  the  seacoast  Alaska  presents  a  grand  and  picturesque 
view  for  miles  in  extent,  from  an  ocean  steamer.  It  is  a  good 
idea  to  get  acquainted  with  Alaska  and  enjoy  its  scener)^  It  is 
a  grand  country  to  visit,  and  its  scenery  surpasses  any  mountain- 
ous scenery  in  the  world.  Travel  on  water  can  be  provided  for 
in  comfort.and  be  enjoyed  without  great  risk  of  danger. 

"  Alaska  is  a  country  on  edge.  It  is  so  mountainous.  Basins 
are  mainly  filled  with  ice.  The  weather  is  always  hard  in  great 
extremes.     Where  there  is  no  ice  there  is  moss  and  devil's  club, 


A   LAND  OF   WONDERS.  1C3 

tiie  latter  a  vine  that  winds  around  evcrytliin^  it  can  clutch. 
Persons  walking  become  entwined  in  a  network  of  moss  and 
dex'il's  club,  and  passage  is  extremely  difficult  and  '  torturous' 
as  well  as  tortuous." 

Miss  Skidniore  has  another  interesting  passage  relative  to  the 
beauties  to  be  seen  on  the  trip  north  from  Sitka.  Speaking  on 
the  straits  and  narrows,  she  says  : 

"  The  tourist  should  not  miss  any  part  of  this  scenic  passage  ; 
the  near  shores,  the  forested  heights  and  the  magnificent  range 
of  peaks  around  the  Stikines  delta,  composing  one  of  the  noblest 
landscapes  he  will  see.  The  sunset  effects  in  the  broad  channels 
at  cither  end  are  renowned,  and  possessor  of  a  Claude  Lorraine 
glass  is  the  most  fortunate  of  tourists. 

Marvelous    Sunrise    Effects. 

"  He  who  has  seen  the  sunrise  lights  in  the  narrows  has  seen 
the  best  of  the  most  marvelous  atmospheric  effects  and  color 
displays  the  matchless  coast  can  offer.  It  is  a  place  of  resort 
for  eagles,  whose  nests  may  be  seen  in  many  tree  tops,  and  is  a 
nursery  for  young  gulls,  who  float  like  myriad  tufts  of  down  in 
the  still  regions. 

"  A  hedge  of  living  green  rises  from  the  water's  edge,  every 
spruce  twig  festooned  with  pale  green  mosses.  At  low  tide 
broad  bands  of  russet  sea  weed  frame  the  islets  and  border  the 
shores,  and  fronds,  stems  and  orange  heads  of  the  giant  kelp 
float  in  the  intensely  green  waters. 

"  The  tides,  rushing  in  from  either  end,  meet  off  Finger  Point, 
whose  two  red  spar  buoys  are  prominent  in  the  exciting  naviga- 
tion. The  tide-fall  varies  from  fourteen  to  twenty-three  feet, 
and  salmon,  entering  with  the  tide,  turn  aside  at  the  red  spar 
buoys,  clear  an  islet,  manoeuvre  to  the  foot  of  the  falls,  leap  its 
eight  feet  at  high  tide  and  swim  to  a  mountain  lake." 

13 


101  A   LAND   OF   WONDERS. 

Nor  is  the  clement  of  the  wonderful  lost  as  one  leaves  these 
deep  inlets  of  the  sea  and  penetrates  into  the  interior  fastnesses. 
One  leaves  in  a  measure  the  stunted,  yet  luxuriant,  forestation 
of  the  southern  and  coast  districts  for  a  bleaker  and  more  repel- 
lant  landscape.  But  the  great  water  courses,  such  as  the  Yukon 
and  the  Klondike,  with  their  numerous  tributaries,  in  a  sense 
take  the  place  of  the  salt  water  inlets.  The  rivers  alone  would 
suffice  to  give  a  fair  idea  of  the  immensity  of  the  country.  And 
right  here  a  word  about  the  Yukon. 

What  the  Amazon  is  to  South  America,  the  Mississippi  to  the 
central  portion   of  the  United  States,  the  Yukon  is  to  Alaska. 

It  is  the  great  inland  highway  of  the  countiy.  It  makes  it 
possible  for  the  explorer  to  penetrate  to  the  very  heart  of  this 
unknown  region. 

This  mighty  stream  rises  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  of  British 
Columbia,  and  the  Coast  Range  Mountains  in  southeastern 
Alaska,  about  135  miles  from  the  city  of  Juneau,  which  is  the 
present  metropolis  of  Alaska.  It  is  only  known,  however,  as  the 
Yukon  River  at  the  point  where  the  Pelly  River,  the  branch  that 
heads  in  British  Columbia,  meets  with  the  Lewis  River,  which 
heads  in  southeastern  Alaska.  This  point  of  confluence  is  at 
Fort  Selkirk,  in  the  Northwest  Territory,  something  like  125 
miles  southeast  of  Klondike. 

Giant  Among    Rivers. 

The  Yukon  River  proper,  therefore,  is  2044  miles  in  length. 
From  Fort  Selkirk  it  flows  northwest  400  miles  and  touches  the 
Arctic  Circle.  Thence  it  bends  in  a  southward  course  for  a  dis- 
tance of  1000  miles  and  empties  into  Behring  Sea.  The  mighty 
stream  drains  more  than  600,000  miles  of  territory  and  dis- 
charges at  least  a  third  more  water  into  Behring  Sea  than  the 
Mississippi  River  discharges  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexido. 


A    LAND    OF    WONDERS. 


195 


At  its  mouth  it  is  sixty  miles  wide.  As  far  inland  as  i  500 
miles  it  widens  out  from  one  to  ten  miles.  ThrouL^hout  its 
course  it  is  dotted  with  inland  islands,  more  than  lOOO  of  these, 
it  is  said,  sending  the  course  of  the  stream  in  as  many  different 
directions.  The  stream  thus  merits  being  considered  as  a  geo- 
graphical wonder,  and  from  mouth  to  head  there  is  scarcely  a 
point  devoid  of  interest  to  the  traveler. 


SCENE    ON    THE    YUKON    RIVER. 

Like  most  of  the  great  streams  of  Alaska  the  navigation  of 
the  river  is  attended  with  danger,  and  the  sense  of  constant  peril 
affords  one  of  the  pleasures  of  the  excursionist's  trip  to  the  inte- 
rior. Only  natives  who  are  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  river 
are  intrusted  with  the  piloting  of  boats  up  the  stream  during  tht 


193  A   LAND   OF   WONDERS. 

season  of  low  water.  Even  at  the  season  of  high  water  there 
are  places  where  the  stream  is  so  shallow  that  it  is  not  navigable 
by  sea-going  vessels  ;  but  only  by  flat-bottom  boats  of  a  carry- 
ing capacity  of  from  400  to  500  tons. 

Canon  of  Le^A;^is   River. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  danger  incident  to  this  river  travel,  a 
few  words  may  be  quoted  relative  to  the  canon  of  the  Lewis  River, 
which  were  written  by  ore  who  recently  made  a  trip  to  the  inte- 
rior.    Says  he  : 

"Before  reaching  the  canon,  a  high  cut  bank  of  sand  on  the 
right  hand  side  will  give  warning  that  it  is  close  at  hand.  Good 
river  men  have  run  the  cafion  safely  even  with  loaded  rafts  ;  but 
it  is  much  surer  to  make  a  landing  on  the  right  side  and  portage 
the  outfit  around  the  caiion  three-quarters  of  a  mile  and  run  the 
raft  through  empty. 

"  The  sameness  of  the  scenery  on  approaching  the  cafion  is  so 
marked  that  many  parties  have  gotten  into  the  canon  before  they 
were  aware  of  it.  Below  the  cafion  are  the  White  Horse  rapids — 
a  bad  piece  of  water  ;  but  the  raft  can  be  lined  down  the  right 
hand  side  until  near  the  White  Horse,  three  miles  below.  This 
is  a  box  canon  about  a  hundred  yards  long;  and  fifty  in  width,  a 
chute  through  which  the  water  of  the  river,  which  is  nearly  600 
feet  wide  just  above,  rushes  with  maddening  force. 

"  But  few  have  ever  a  tempted  to  run  it,  and  four  of  them 
have  been  drowned.  Of  two  men  who  made  the  attempt  in 
May,  '88,  nothing  was  found  save  a  bundle  of  blankets." 

Reference  has  been  made  to  the  intense  cold  of  the  northern 
regions  where  gold  abounds,  and  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
during  the  winter  season,  which  is  practically  nine  months  of  the 
year,  the  Yukon  is  absolutely  fro/.en  solid  and  thus  closed  to 
travel.     The  Frost  King  asserts  his  dominion  and  locks  up  all 


A   LAND   OF   WONDERS.  107 

approaches  with  impenetrable  ice.  Only  for  ten  or  twelve  weeks, 
that  is,  from  the  middle  of  June  to  the  early  part  of  September, 
is  the  river  for  use  in  travel,  except  by  way  of  sledges  drawn 
by  dogs. 

When,  however,  in  the  early  spring  the  bonds  of  ice  are  riven, 
a  never-ending  panorama  of  extraordinary  picturcsqueness  is 
unfolded  to  the  voyager.  The  banks  of  the  stream  are  then 
fringed  with  flowers  and  carpeted  with  the  all-pervading  moss  or 
tundra,  as  it  is  called.  Then  birds  in  countless  number  and  of 
infinite  variety  in  plumage,  sing  out  a  welcome  to  the  traveler 
from  every  tree  top.  One  may  pitch  his  tent  wherever  he  likes 
in  midsummer,  and  a  bed  of  roses,  a  clump  of  poppies  or  a 
bunch  of  blue  bells  will  adorn  his  camp. 

Above    all   the    Glaciers. 

One  is  never  allowed  to  forget,  however,  that  high  above  this 
brief  paradise  by  the  river  side,  which  for  a  time  is  almost  of 
tropical  exuberance,  the  giant  glaciers  sleep  in  the  summit  of  the 
mountains  above  the  bed  of  roses.  With  the  first  days  of  Sep- 
tember, and  here  the  traveler  will  experience  a  deep  sense  of 
regret — everything  is  changed.  The  bed  of  roses  has  disap- 
peared before  the  ice  breath  of  the  Winter  King.  This,  as  has 
been  said  before,  often  sends  down  the  mercury  to  from  eighty 
to  ninety  degrees  below  zero. 

The  birds,  as  might  be  expected,  hie  themselves  southward. 
The  white  man  has  to  take  to  his  cabin  and  the  Indian  to  his 
hut,  and  even  the  bears  are  early  driven  away  from  the  field  and 
begin  their  sleep  of  nine  months.  Throughout  <ill  northern 
Alaska,  from  September  on,  the  rivers  are  but  ribbons  of  ice, 
marking  off  the  mountains,  and  the  plains,  and  the  forests,  which 
are  all  alike  covered  with  a  coat  of  snow. 

As  might  be  expected  from  the  general  configuration  of  the 


198  A  LAND   OF  WONDERS. 

land,  Alaska  is  a  country  of  fine  waterfalls.  The  most  remark- 
able of  these  leap  from  the  cliffs  along  Cook's  Inlet,  and  the 
alteration  of  snow  peaks,  volcanoes,  forested  slopes  and  fertile 
prairies  make  a  continually  changing  and  charming  picture  to 

the  eye, 

A    Land    of  Volcanoes. 

Go  where  you  will  you  will  find  snow-clad  peaks,  glaciers, 
cliffs,  and  ferreting  their  way  through  the  country,  innumerable 
streams,  the  courses  of  which  are  often  partially  blocked,  resulting 
in  waterfalls  and  rapids  that  would  be  regarded  as  sights  worth 
long  trips  were  they  anywhere  else  in  the  world  than  in  the 
distant  and,  as  it  is  commonly  supposed,  forbidding  territory  of 
Alaska.  There  is  a  whole  line  of  volcanoes,  curving  down  to 
the  southwest  and  joining  those  of  Kurile  Islands  and  of  Japan, 
which  complete  the  Pacific's  "  ring  of  fire,"  as  it  is  called. 

Brilliant  auroral  displays  are  mostly  to  be  witnessed  in  August, 
and  at  such  times  mirages  frequently  appear.  By  refraction,  the 
ice  floes  are  often  magnified  into  ice  cliffs  looo  or  more  feet  high, 
apparently  barring  a  ship's  advance  or  retreat.  Many  attempts 
have  been  made  by  photographers  to  secure  a  sharp  negative  of 
a  mirage,  but  it  is  difficult  to  do  so.  The  lines  of  glimmering 
ice  cliffs  leave  no  definition  or  shadow,  but  waver  and  fade 
quickly.  The  reflected  light  from  these  glaciers  and  snow  fields 
is  thus  often  a  bar  to  the  most  experienced  photographer. 

The  world  has  been  given,  however,  one  great  hoax  in  the 
way  of  a  picture  of  an  Alaskan  mirage.  This  was  the  so-ealled 
Phantom  or  Silent  City,  which  was  issued  in  1889  by  Richard 
Willoughby.  Thousands  of  prints  of  a  cloudy  negative  of 
Bristol,  England,  were  sold  on  his  statement  that  he  had  seen 
and  photographed  the  city  from  Glacier  Bay. 

It  is  with  the  advent  of  the  Winter  King  that  the  Alaskan 
dogs  come  in  play  so  conspicuously.     And  a  word  about  these 


A   LAND   OF   WONDERS.  193 

dogs,  which  arc  really  one  of  the  wonders  of  Alaska,  will  be 
of  interest.  They  really  seem  not  dogs  at  all,  but  animals  closely 
related  to  the  wolf. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  they  are  all  natural  born  thieves,  or 
nothing.  They  are  all  prone  to  enjoy  what  is  commonly  called 
a  "scrap,"  and  they  usually  celebrate  the  arrival  of  newcomers 
by  a  general  fight.  Men  who  have  spent  years  in  the  Alaskan 
wilds  say  that  the  dogs  will  steal  anything  from  a  pair  of  boots 
to  a  side  of  bacon,  and  in  doing  so  will  evince  as  great  a  degree 
of  cunning  and  cleverness  as  the  most  expert  thief  who  ever 
plied  his  calling  in  a  metropolitan  city. 

To  be  on  the  safe  side  in  the  matter  of  their  possessions,  all 
the  miners  have  adopted  the  plan  of  "caching"  their  harness, 
clothing,  etc.  This  is  done  by  erecting  a  strong  house  upon 
posts  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  above  ground  for  the  safe  keeping  of 
all  such  articles. 

Animals  With   Cracked  Barks. 

A  peculiar  thing  connected  with  these  dogs  is  the  fact  that 
they  are  all  animals  with  cracked  barks.  In  other  words,  their 
attempts  at  barking  are  simply  a  source  of  the  most  unheard  dis- 
cord. The  howling  of  wolves,  it  is  said,  is  pleasant  music  com- 
pared with  the  howling  of  these  dogs  at  night. 

What  is  more,  on  the  slightest  provocation,  in  the  dead  of 
night,  some  dog  will  raise  an  apology  for  a  bark,  and  every 
animal  within  a  radius  of  five  miles  will  join  in  the  general  up- 
roar. Alaska  is  not  obliged  to  wait  for  the  Fourth  of  July  for 
discord.      The  dogs  can  make  it  on  short  notice  at  any  time. 

To  the  stranger  in  Alaska  the  sunlit  nights  and  the  moonlit 
days  will  for  a  long  time  be  a  source  of  constant  wonder.  Old 
Sol,  when  he  is  on  duty,  which,  it  must  be  remembered,  is  only 
part  of  the  year,  is  no  laggard  in  Alaska.      He  rises  before  three 


200  A    LAND    OF   WONDERS. 

o'clock  in  the  morning  and  keeps  steadily  at  work  until  fully 

eleven  o'clock  at  night.      In  the  gold  regions,  therefore,  during 

the  mining  months,  there  are  a  few  short  hours  only  when  it  is 

not  sunshine. 

Luna  Takes  Precedence. 

During  the  long  winter  months,  however,  Sol  takes  a  back 
seat  and  Luna  takes  precedence.  Then  there  is  an  era  of  moon- 
lit days.  Miss  Anna  Fulcomcr,  a  plucky  University  of  Chicago 
girl,  adverts  to  this  peculiarity — one  may  say  wonder — in  a  letter 
written  from  Circle  City,  in  the  heart  of  the  gold  region.  She 
says  : 

"While  teaching  at  Circle  City  I  went  to  school  by  the  light 
of  the  setting  moon — that  was  about  nine  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing— and  went  home  at  noon  by  the  light  of  the  rising  moon. 
Literally  I  have  lived  in  moonlight  for  the  last  year.  Moonlight 
and  cold.  Gtill,  the  temperature  last  winter  was  not  as  intense  as 
usual.  The  coldest  we  had  it  was  only  sixty-five  degrees  below 
zero,  and  that  for  Alaska  in  the  northern  latitudes  was  mild 
weather.  It  was  quite  cold  enough,  however,  to  make  one  feel 
the  need  of  genuine  Alaskan  clothing,  good  shelter  and  good 
solid  food. 

"  I  pity  the  people  who  come  here  under  the  delusion  that 
mining  life  in  Alaska  is  anything  comparable  with  what  it  was 
during  the  gold  excitement  in  California.  There  they  had  mild 
weather,  in  which  people  could  comfortably  camp  out.  But 
people  here  must  come  with  the  expectation  of  meeting  cold  and 
hardship  and  possible  suffering." 

That  many  of  the  miners  who  penetrate  into  the  wilderness  in 
the  hopes  of  amassing  wealth  do  meet  hardship  and  suffering  is 
now  an  old  story.  The  following  words  taken  from  the  Alaskan 
Searchliglit  are  in  point  at  this  time.  Says  the  writer,  who  made 
the  trip  from  Juneau  to  the  Yukon  in  January : 


A   LAND   OF   WONDERS.  20J 

"The  miner  of  Alaska  looks  to  the  Yukon  country  for  a  repro- 
duction of  the  sconces  of  the  Cassiar  and  Caribon  districts.  That 
alon<T  that  river  and  its   numerous  tributaries  there  are  millions 

o 

of  dollars  hidden   in   the   sands  or  locked  within  the  mountains' 
rock-bound  walls  there  can  be  no  doubt. 

"For  several  years  the  more  adventuresome  of  o'lr  placer 
miners  have  been  going  to  that  Mecca  of  the  North — Forty-Mile 
Creek.  Many  of  them  have  returned  after  one  or  two  season's 
sojourn  none  the  richer,  save  in  experience ;  others  have  struck 
it  rich  and  made  for  themselves  snug  little  fortunes ;  and  a  thou- 
sand others  arc  wintering  there  now  hoping  that  next  summer 
may  bring  them  that  good  luck  for  which  they  have  so  long 
waited. 

"  Day  after  day,  and  season  after  season,  the  miners  toil  cheer- 
fully at  the  bars  and  old  water  courses  of  the  creeks  and  rivers 
which  form  part  of  the  Yukon  system,  and  every  year  sees  their 
numbers  increased,  and  every  fall  a  larger  quantity  of  gold  finds 
its  way  to  the  mints,  and  ev^ery  spring  the  Alaskan  steamers  brine; 
several  hundreds  to  join  the  fortune  hunters  of  the  interior, 
Forty-Mile  being  the  objective  point  of  all  going  to  the  Yukon 
gold  fields." 

Country  Has  Its  Romance. 

And  this  country  so  wild,  so  new,  so  unexplored,  so  lately 
brought  to  the  notice  of  the  civilized  world,  virtually  is  not  with- 
out its  evidence  of  romance  in  the  way  of  memorials  that  point 
to  former  activities  that  now  no  longer  exist,  or  mark  the  spot 
of  disaster  or  suffering.  As  far  back  as  1883  a  forest  of  totem 
poles  rose  in  the  great  lodges  of  the  Stikines  village.  In  1893 
only  a  half  dozen  remained,  and  the  "show  pair"  guarded  a 
cottage  which  replaced  the  ancestral  lodge.  One  of  these  guards 
relates  the  legends  of  the  builder's  family  and  the  other  that  of 
his  wife. 


202  A   LAND   OF   WONDERS. 

Here  and  there  on  the  route  from  southern  Alaska  to  the  gold 
fields  the  traveler  will  find  sirnilar  relics,  deserted  hearths  of  a 
bygone  day.  This  seems  strange  in  a  country  so  lately  invaded 
by  the  white  man.  And  this  juxtaposition  of  the  unknov/n,  the 
unexplored  and  the  relics  of  former  peoples  and  former  explo- 
rers will  ever  be  a  cause  for  wonder. 

Speaking  of  totem  poles,  it  may  be  said  that  this  is  one  of  the 

favorite  occupations  of  the  Indians.    The  traveler  will  be  amused  at 

the  totem  poles  which  are  to  be  found  wherever  an  Indian  village 

dots  the  landscape.     The  natives  make  them  by  cutting  down  a 

good  sized  straight  tree,  dressing  it  to  the  desired  size  and  then 

carving  it  in  a  very  rude  way  with  the  figures  of  birds,  Indian 

warriors  and  other  fantastic  shapes,  which  very  much  resemble 

Chinese  carvings. 

Totem  Poles  Come  High. 

After  these  poles  have  received  a  sufficient  amount  of  labor  and 
skill  they  are  raised  and  planted  on  end  before  the  owner's  huts. 
Great  value  is  attached  to  some  of  them,  and  the  Indians  who, 
strange  to  say,  from  their  uncivilized  condition,  are  the  shrewdest 
of  money  makers,  will  not  infrequently  ask  from  ^looo  to  ;$2000 
for  a  pole.  This  they  consider  a  very  reasonable  price,  and  they 
are  somewhat  surprised  when  the  traveler,  who  places  no  value 
on  these  rude  works  of  art,  smiles  at  what  he  deems  exhorbitant 
figures  which  they  place  upon  them.  Mentioning  the  Stikines 
River  naturally  brings  mention  of  the  marvels  of  the  fishing  pro- 
duct of  Alaska,  owing  to  the  fact  that  a  large  salmon  cannery  is 
located  there.  To  one  who  has  been  accustomed  to  fish  in 
southern  waters,  baiting  a  hook  and  pullinfy  out  an  occasional 
fish,  it  would  be  nothing  less  than  wonderful  to  sit  down  by  the 
side  of  the  Yukon  or  the  Klondike  or  the  Lewis  or  the  Stikines 
rivers  to  fish  for  salmon.  Fish  not  infrequently  are  so  thick  in 
these  waters  as  virtually  to  impede  navigation. 


A   LAND   OF   WONDERS.  203 

Salmon  make  their  way  up  the  Yukon  in  shoals  looo  or  more 
miles,  and  are  caught  by  the  natives,  or  rather  taken  by  the  na- 
tives, by  the  ton.  No  Alaskan  Indian  would  ever  think  of  fish- 
ing with  hook  and  line,  or  even  spearing  fish. 

They  will  wait  until  the  shoals  come  up  the  river.  Then  par- 
ties of  Indians  will  get  on  either  side  of  the  stream  with  branches 
of  trees,  sticks  and  the  like  and  beat  the  water,  thus  driving  the 
fish  to  the  shallow  places.  Here  other  Indians  will  be  stationed 
with  common  pitchforks,  and  will  stick  and  hand  out  the  fish  in 
quantities  that  would  make  them  a  drug  in  the  southern  market. 
These  fish  arc  often  of  an  exceedingly  large  size,  and  when  dried 
or  otherwise  cured  make  the  staple  of  the  native  diet. 

Greatest  Salmon  River. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  as  one  of  the  wonders  of  Alaska  that 
the  country  has  the  greatest  salmon  stream  in  the  world.  This 
is  the  Karluk  River.  The  stream  rises  on  the  west  coast  of 
Kadiak,  and  is  sixteen  miles  long,  from  loo  to  600  feet  wide  and 
less  than  six  feet  deep.  These  figures,  it  is  pointed  out,  give  the 
dimensions  of  the  solid  mass  of  salmon  that  used  to  ascent  the 
Karluk  to  a  mountain  lake  before  canners  came  with  gill  nets  in 
1884. 

The  largest  cannery  in  the  world  is  at  Karluk.  There  used 
to  be  1 100  employes,  and  over  200,000  of  forty-eight  one- 
pound  tins,  containing  3,000,000  salmon,  was  the  output.  A 
single  haul  of  the  seine  in  this  river  has  reached  17,000  salmon. 
Yet  each  ebb-tide  then  left  thousands  of  stranded  fish  to  die  on 
the  banks  and  bars. 

In  the  palmy  days  of  the  canning  industry  the  canners 
enjoyed  a  monopoly  without  tax,  license  or  any  government 
interference.  The  nearest  United  States  commission  was  700 
miles  away.     Stores,  employes  and  pack  were  conveyed  to  and 


204  A    LAND    OF   WONDERS. 

from  San  Francisco  in  the  canners'  own  vessels,  an  J  the  hun- 
dreds of  Chinese,  Greek,  Italian,  Portugese  and  American  work- 
men constituted  the  most  untrammelled  community  anywhere 
to  be  found  under  one  flag  from  May  to  September  of  each  year. 

Won't  Cure  Their  Catch. 

Often  the  supply  of  fish  is  so  large  that  the  natives  will  not 
even  take  the  trouble  of  caring  for  their  catch  !  The  fish  are 
simply  piled  up  and  allowed  to  rot  for  compost.  It  might  be 
mentioned  right  here  that  one  of  the  favorite  dishes  of  the  native 
Alaskans  would  be  a  marvel  to  southerners  of  a  more  refined 
taste.  They  will  cut  off  the  heads  of  the  salmon,  put  them  in 
a  hole,  bury  them  and  leave  them  for  weeks  to  rot.  Then  there 
will  be  a  general  gathering  of  the  clans,  and  the  deposit  of  the 
fish  hole  will  be  opened,  and  the  unsavory  mess  will  be  parceled 
out  to  be  eaten  by  the  natives  as  a  delicacy.  And  nobody  calls 
stinking  fish ! 

In  this  wilderness  of  mountains,  with  their  snow-capped 
peaks  ;  plains,  with  their  almost  barren  and  desolate  features  ; 
and  rivers,  with  their  almost  endless,  tortuous  courses,  where, 
until  recently,  and  by  recently  one  means  the  time  of  the  pur- 
chase of  the  country  from  the  Russians,  few  ever  ventured,  the 
traveler  will  be  surprised  at  the  almost  utter  absence  of  game. 
He  would  naturally  suppose  that  where  the  white  man  has  been 
for  so  short  a  time,  would  be  a  sportsman's  heaven.  The  con- 
trary, however,  is  true.  Here  in  this  wilderness,  there  is  almost 
an  utter  absence  of  game  for  the  reason  that  the  miners,  who 
have  been  at  work  there,  finding  it  impossible  to  get  fresh  meat 
from  the  south,  and  wcar}'ing  of  canned  goods,  have  literally 
driven  game  from  every  locality  into  which  they  have  set  their 
foot.     The  result  is  somewhat  curious. 

There  are  in  Alaska  districts  comprising  hundreds   of  square 


205 


206  A   LAND   01"    WONDERS. 

miles  that  are  solitudes  in  the  strictest  and  truest  sense  of  the 
word.  The  white  men  have  not  been  induced  to  settle  there, 
natives  have  moved  away,  and  all  the  animals  have  been  driven 
away  to  such  an  extent  that,  barring  insects,  there  is  no  indica- 
tion of  life  in  the  territory.  Solitude  and  silence  reign  supreme. 
If  there  is  a  sound,  it  is  due  to  the  wind  sweeping  down  the 
gulleys,  upturning  trees  or  something  of  that  sort. 

It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  while  Alaska  may,  in  a  certain 
sense,  be  said  to  be  the  home  of  the  Aurora  Borealis  or  North- 
ern Lights,  and  displays  are  frequently  seen  covering  the  entire 
northern  sky  with  a  brilliancy  of  color  that  it  would  be  worth 
going  hundreds  of  miles  to  see,  electrical  storms  are  something 
of  a  rarity  in  Alaska.     A  cyclone  is  a  thing  unknown. 

Still,  in  the  summer  season  the  rain -fall  is  marked,  but  it 
comes  without  the  attending  electrical  disturbance  that  is  so 
common  a  feature  in  southern  latitudes.  This  may  possibly  be 
due  to  the  comparative  dryness  of  the  northern  air.  The  dry- 
ness by  the  way  has  the  effect  of  tempering  the  air  and  mitigat- 
ing the  intense  cold. 

Cold  Scarcely  Noticed. 

Even  with  the  thermometer  at  eighty  or  ninety  degrees  below 
zero  at  Dawson  City,  Circle  City  or  any  of  the  other  mining 
camps,  the  intense  cold  is  really  not  noticed.  It  would  seem 
very  strange  to  a  person  used  to  southern  weather  to  hear  a 
native  or  a  person  who  had  lived  for  a  series  of  years  in  Alaska, 
talking  about  its  being  a  warm  day  or  a  mild  day,  with  the  ther- 
mometer at  sixty-five  below.  Yet,  this  peculiar  characteristic  of 
the  weather,  extreme  dryness  with  extreme  cold,  makes  this  a 
common  saying  among  the  people. 

No  chapter  on  the  Land  of  Wonders,  as  we  have  called 
Alaska,  would  be  complete  without  reference  to  the  mosquitos, 


A   LAND   OF   WONDERS.  207 

which  arc  one  of  the  greatest  nuisances  of  the  countr)-.  The 
Yukon  mosquito  is  a  giant  among  insects  and  is  king  of  his 
tribe.  It  may  seem  like  a  yarn,  but  it  is  said  to  be  an  actual 
fact  that  the  mosquito  actually  hunts  and  kills  bears  along  the 
Yukon  River. 

Lieutenant  Schwatka,  the  well-known  explorer,  who  visited 
the  Yukon  some  years  ago,  is  authority  for  this  statement.  He 
assures  us  that  the  bears,  under  stress  of  hunger,  sometimes 
come  down  to  the  river  in  mosquito  time,  and  are  attacked  by 
the  insects,  who  sling  them  about  the  eyes  and  cause  them  to 
go  blind  and  die  of  starvation.  A  prominent  Yukon  miner,  who 
has  spent  years  in  the  country,  has  published  the  statement  that 
he  has  known  mosquitos  to  bite  through  a  thick  moose  skin 
mitten. 

The   natives,   who   are  born  and  bred   to  the   nuisance,  are 

forced  to  smear  themselves  with  grease  and  soot  to  keep  off  the 

pests.      Often  miners  are  forced  to  resort  to  the  same   expedient 

or  to  work  with  helmets  of  gauze  to  protect  themselves  from  the 

bites. 

Natives    of    Great    Interest. 

Apart  from  any  consideration  of  sccpery,  industries  ci  re- 
sources, the  natives  themselves  will  ever  be  a  source  of  interest 
if  not  of  wonder  to  the  voyagers.  Shrewd  and  enterprising  in 
their  way,  they  are  yet  children  of  nature  and  have  all  sorts  of 
notions  that  will  strike  the  stranger  as  odd  if  not  ludicrous. 

Chatham  Strait,  for  instance,  is  a  playground  of  inferior  whales, 
great  totemic  creatures,  which  the  Indians  believe  were  once 
bears,  but  going  to  sea  wore  off  their  fur  on  the  rocks  and  had 
feet  nibbled  off  by  other  fishes.  The  all-mischievous  raven,  they 
say,  often  creeps  down  the  whale's  throat,  and  causes  such  agony 
that  the  whale  rushes  to  the  shore  and  vomits  the  intruder  on 
the  beach.     Paintings  and  carvings  showing  the  demon  in  the 


208 


A   LAND   OF   WONDERS. 


whale's  body  arc  often  taken  as  proof  that  the  Indians  have  a 
Jonah  legend,  and  are  of  direct  iVsiatic  descent. 

Another  of  these  old  Indian  legends  that  is  constantly  told  to 
strangers  concerns  the  all-present  glacier.  They  say  that  in 
their  fathers'  time,  which  may  be  taken  as  an  indefinite  or  inde- 
terminate period  anywhere  from  fifty  to  a  thousand  }-ears,  the 


SCENE  IN  SOUTHERN  ALASKA. 

ice  reached  as  far  as  Bartlett's  Bay.  About  1 860  it  was  in  line  with 
Willoughby  Island.  The  Indians  say  that  long,  long  ago  the  gla- 
cier advanced  and  swept  away  a  cit\'  on  the  sands  at  the  base  of  the 
mountains,  where  the  Beardsley  Islands  now  rise.  They  say  it 
came  down  in  a  day  and  did  not  go  away  in  ten  years,  and  tell  how 
the  ice  floods  descended,  ploughed  up  the  fields,  destroyed  their 
houses,  as  the  Corner  glacier  once  devastated  its  valley. 


A   LAND   OF   WONDERS.  20^ 

Again  they  say,  a  great  wave  rushed  in  from  the  ocean,  swept 
away  the  village  near  Bartlett's  Bay,  mowed  down  the  trees  with 
icebergs,  and  left  no  living  thing.  They  say  further  that  a 
glacier  once  crept  down  and  damned  up  their  best  salmon 
stream.  Two  slaves  were  then  offered  up  to  the  evil  god  that 
caused  the  mischief. 

Tell    Legends    as    Facts. 

Legends  like  these,  told  as  positive  fact,  coupled  with  odd 
ways  of  thought  and  dress  and  action,  make  the  Indians  an 
interesting  study.  They  seem  in  a  sense  fitting  denizens  of  the 
wilds  of  the  territory.  An  ampler  account  of  these  Indians, 
however,  will  be  given  in  the  chapter  on  ethnology. 

In  conclusion,  it  may  be  said  that  one  of  the  wonders  of 
Alaska  is  the  Treadwell  mine,  on  Douglass  Island,  near  Juneau. 
This  is  the  largest  quartz  mill  in  the  world,  and  one  well  worthy 
of  a  visit  from  anyone  wishing  to  know  the  process  of  operation 
followed  in  tliat  particular  form  of  mining.  It  should  also  be 
remembered  that  it  is  only  a  short  walk  from  Juneau  to  the 
placer  mines,  so  that  those  who  do  not  wish  to  penetrate  into 
the  barren  wilderness  of  the  North  in  search  of  adventure  or 
wealth,  but  who  wish  to  see  placer  mining  and  know  how  it  is 
done  without  the  hardships  incident  to  the  long  overland  journey 
on  snow  shoes  or  on  sledges  drawn  by  dogs,  can  have  their 
curiosity  gratified  and  can  gain  the  information  desired  on  a  jau**' 
for  pleasure. 

14 


CHAPTER   VI. 
Women  at  the  Mines. 

Schemes  for  Obtaining  Wealth — Mrs.  Gage  and  Mrs.  Schwatka  iu  the  Frozen 
North — The  Mosquito  Pest — ^Juneau  and  the  Lynn  Canal — Climbing  the 
Mountains — Difl&culties  of  Mining— Scarcity  of  Game — The  Scurvy 
Terror — Morals  of  Klondike  Mining  Camps — Female  Enterprise — 
Scarcity  of  Amusements — Sisterhood  of  St.  Anne — The  Four-leaf  Clover 
— Bridal  Trip  to  Klondike— Romance  of  Joseph  Ladue — Women'? 
Klondike  Syndicate — A  Lucky  Seamstress. 

THE  gold  mines    on    the  Klondike    are    not  without    their 
romance,  and  by  this  is  meant,  not  the  romance  of  specu- 
lation and    adventure,   but  the    romance  of    real    life  in 
which  the  gentle  sex  figure.       The  poet  Compbell,  years  ago 
wrote  the  couplet : 

"  The  world  was  sad  ;  the  garden  was  a  wild  : 
And  man,  the  hermit,  sigh'd — till  woman  smiled." 

Some  Klondike  Campbell  sighed,  and  women  all  over  the  United 
States  smiled.  At  least  they  were  among  the  first  to  catch  the 
gold  fever  and  brave  the  dangers  and  the  hardships  of  the  Alas- 
kan wilds. 

What  is  more,  they  contracted  the  craze  just  as  badly  as  the 
men,  and  many  of  their  enterprises  and  their  hobbies  were  no 
v/hit  less  out-of-the-way  and  outlandish  than  those  of  their 
brethren.  From  Maine  to  California  women  of  enterprise  and 
courage,  many  of  them  of  education  and  gentle  birth,  flocked  to 
the  North  in  the  wild  rush  to  secure  wealth  by  a  lucky  stroke. 

Women  who  had  never  known  hardship  in  any  form,  did  not 
hesitate  to  leave  comfortable  homes  and  brave  the  unknown. 
From  the  very  outset  the  officers  of  the  great  transportation 
companies   received  a  numerous   mail   from   the  women  of  the 

210 


WOMEN   AT  THE    MINES.  211 

country,  making  inquiries  as  to  the  outfits  necessary  for  them 
and  the  cost  of  transportation,  and  what  they  woukl  Hkely  ha\'e 
to  undergo  in  carr\-ing  out  their  projects  to  penetrate  to  the  inte- 
rior of  the  gold  region. 

"Women    with   Great   Schemes. 

Many  of  these  women  came  with  schemes  by  which  they 
hoped  to  attain  wealth,  not  by  mining  and  prospecting,  but  b}- 
catering  to  some  real  or  fancied  needs  of  the  miners.  Others 
again  expressed  their  determination  to  become  prospectors  and 
bona  fide  miners.  Not  a  few  did  not  hesitate  to  admit  that  they 
were  going  to  the  unknown  country  in  hopes  of  meeting  some 
miner  who  had  made  a  happy  hit  and  amassed  a  fortune,  whom 
they  might  captivate  by  their  charms  and  thus  secure  at  once 
both  husband  and  opulence. 

Conspicuous  among  these  women  who  lent  the  charm  of  their 
presence  to  camp  life  were  several  women  of  note,  who,  actuated 
by  different  motives  than  the  great  mass,  made  the  long,  perilous 
journey  over  the  snow-clad  plains  and  mountains,  and  up  the 
dangerous  rivers  as  far  as  Dawson  City,  Circle  City  and  Klon- 
dike. Some  of  these  had  had  previous  experience  of  Alaskan 
summers  and  winters,  and  knew  what  it  was  to  live  in  moonless 
nights  and  sunless  days.  Several  of  them  left  their  homes  with 
the  avowed  determination  of  wintering  in  the  fastnesses  of  the 
North. 

Among  these  women  conspicuous  for  their  social  position  may 
be  mentioned  Mrs.  Eli  Gage,  wife  of  the  son  of  Secretary  Gage 
of  the  United  States  Treasury.  Mrs.  Schwatka,  wife  of  Lieu- 
tenant Schwatka,  the  well-known  explorer,  and  Miss  Anna  Ful- 
comer,  who  first  went  to  Circle  City,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
United  States  Government,  to  teach  the  Indians  and  gather  fiicts 
for  the  Smithsonian  Institution.     A  word  from  such  women  will 


212  WOMEN  AT  THE   MINES. 

be  deemed  welcome  to  those  members  of  the  sex  who  may  have 
it  in  mind  to  brave  the  perils  of  the  North. 

Mrs.  EH  Gage  came  from  St.  Michael's  on  the  ship  which 
brought  the  Klondike  argonauts  back  to  civilization.  Her  hus- 
band, who  is  prominently  connected  with  the  North  American 
Company,  is  the  man  who  traveled  1500  miles  overland  last 
winter  and  brought  out  of  the  centre  of  Alaska  the  first  reliable 
news  of  the  wonderful  strike  in  the  Klondike  region.  He  is  a 
stockholder  in  many  valuable  claims  in  that  vicinity. 

Mrs.  Gage  returned  in  August  to  the  far  Nortwest  to  join  her 
husband,  with  whom  she  will  spend  the  winter  at  Dawson  City. 
She  wa^  accompanied  by  W.  W.  Weare,  second  vice-president 
of  the  North  American  Transportation  and  Trading  Company, 
and  several  friends  of  herself  and  her  family  were  in  the  party. 

They  "  went  in"  by  way  of  Juneau  and  the  Chilkoot  Pass, 
the  brave  young  wife  making  light  of  the  perils  incident  to  the 
800-mile  journey  over  the  icy  mountains  and  in  an  open  boat  in 
Arctic  weather,  to  join  her  husband  at  the  Klondike  capital. 

Voyage  in   a    Yacht. 

A  specially  constructed  yacht  was  built  for  the  party  m 
Toronto,  planned  and  fitted  out  expressly  for  the  various  exigen- 
cies of  the  voyage  from  Lake  Linderman  to  Dawson.  It  was 
shipped  in  sections  to  Dyea,  and  thence  was  "  carried "  over 
Chilkoot  Pass  and  put  together  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Linderman, 
whence  the  long  water  voyage  began.  It  was  provided  with 
many  comforts  and  even  luxuries  to  make  the  journey  as  little 
like  the  rough,  hard  experiences  of  rafting  or  canoeing  as  possible, 
and  still  was  far  from  being  suggestive  of  the  winter  luxury  of 
the  elegantly  appointed  home  in  Chicago  which  Mrs.  Gage 
abandoned  to  share  with  her  pioneer  husband  the  rigors  of  a 
close  season  in  the  polar  climate  of  Dawson  City. 


WOMEN   AT  THE   MINES.  213 

But  her  Iiomc  on  Evanston  Avenue  was,  in  her  mind,  at  least, 
the  most  unimportant 'of  the  many  things  Mrs.  Gage  left  behind 
her  in  Chicago  when  she  started  on  the  year-long  trip  into  the 
northern  wilderness.  Her  fifteen-months'  old  baby  was  thought 
too  young  to  undertake  the  hard,  hazardous  journey,  and  was  left 
with  friends  while  the  young  mother  hastened  off  to  the  Klondike 
to  be  once  more  with  her  husband.  When  she  sees  her  darling 
again  the- baby  lips  will  have  learned  the  use  of  speech  to  wel- 
come her,  and  the  tiny  feet  will  know  how  to  fly  to  greet  her 
coming. 

Tells    of  the    Gold. 

In  speaking  of  her  trip  down  on  the  Portland  in  July,  Mrs. 
Gage  said  : 

"It  is  almost  impossible  to  tell  how  much  money  the  Portland 
brought  into  the  States.  The  boat  was  filled  with  returning 
miners  and  prospectors,  and  the  smallest  deposit  in  the  ship's 
safe  was  ;$  15,000  in  dust  and  nuggets.  There  were  many  others 
— so  many  that  the  captain's  room  was  like  the  treasure  store  of 
a  king.  It  was  literally  filled  with  gold  in  all  forms,  and  while  I 
sat  in  the  midst  of  the  wealth  it  occured  to  me  that  the  old  trade 
of  buccaneering  had  missed  a  rare  chance  in  not  waiting  by  the 
sea  road  for  this  load  of  gold. 

Mrs.  Gage  says  there  is  a  wonderful  quantity  of  gold  in  the 
Yukon  field  and  any  man  who  has  5500  for  "  grub-staking"  a 
claim  need  have  no  fear  in  going  to  the  Klondike  region  in  hopes 
of  a  rich  harvest,  for  he  is  sure  of  gaining  it. 

Even  though  a  man  go  poorly  equipped  and  supplied,  he  rarely 
receives  poor  treatment  from  the  hands  of  his  neighbors,  and 
may  find  plenty  of  work  to  do  which  will  enable  him  to  earn 
from  $  I  5  to  $  1 7  per  day. 

Mrs.  Gage  speaks  well  of  the  people  who  make  up  the  popu- 
lation, dwelling  on  the  fact  that  they  are  a  class  who  may  be 


214  WOMEN   AT  THE    MINES. 

trusted,  and  that  they  form  a  desirable  community.  The  valley 
of  the  Yukon  is  not  populated  with  sucR  men  as  constitute  a 
large  part  of  western  mining  camps. 

One  thing  Mrs.  Gage  particularly  emphasizes.  It  is  that  there 
is  absolutely  no  truth  in  the  "report  of  famine.  It  has  been  said 
that  starvation  would  overtake  many  who  went  to  Alaska  this 
fall,  but  Mrs.  Gage  is  firm  in  her  belief  that  enough  supplies  are 
being  taken  from  Seattle  and  San  Francisco  by  the  two  trading 
companies  in  Alaska. 

"Those  in  charge  of  the  business  of  these  concerns,"  she  said, 
"  are  making  ample  preparations  for  the  coming  winter.  They 
fear  no  famine,  and  the  individual  miners  are  taking  advice  and 
are  already  supplying  themselves  with  necessities.  There  is  gold 
enough  in  Alaska  for  everyone." 

Reverting  again  to  the  marvelous  golden  treasures  of  Alaska, 
Mrs.  Gage  said  with  enthusiasm  : 

"  Four  great  Alaskan  miners  came  down  with  us,  and  a  more 
than  interesting  sight  was  to  go  down  into  the  great  safe  on  the 
ship  and  see  the  bags  of  gold  dust.  There  have  been  many  for- 
tunes found  in  Alaska,  yet  there  is  gold  enough  to  satisfy  every- 
one. 

"  Mr.  Gage  is  at  Dawson  and  will  not  return  until  spring.     He 

is  constantly  busy  and  likes  the  life.     Since  my  arrival  in  Seattle 

I  heard  that  a  man  whom  he  had  *  grub-staked '  has  dug  up  gold 

worth  $35,000  in  three  months  on  a  small  claim.     If  a  man  goes 

out  there  without  money  he  can  very  soon  earn  it,  for  wages 

paid,  even  fnr  common  labor,  in  all  the  region  range  from  S  i  5 

to  $iy  per  day." 

No  Fear  of  the  Trip. 

Just  before  leaving  Chicago  for  Dawson  City,  Mrs.  Gage  said  : 

"  My  husband  and  I  were  separated  over  a  year,  and  he  spent 

the  time  in  a  log  cabin  at  Circle  City  while  I  lived  in  Chicago. 


WOMEN  AT  THE   MINES.  215 

This  year  I  have  decided  to  go  to  him.  I  am  not  afraid  of  the 
trip.  I  have  been  to  Alaska  and  I  know  the  stories  of  hardship 
are  much  exaggerated.  If  one  is  well  prepared  for  the  journey- 
there  is  really  no  great  danger.  There  is  no  use  for  doctors  in 
Alaska." 

Mrs.  Gage  is  not  a  large  women,  but  she  said  she  never  enjoyed 
better  health  than  in  Alaska,  despite  the  cold. 

"  It  is  such  a  dry  cold  one  hardly  feels  it,"  she  said.  "  And 
I  am  not  at  all  afraid.  Women  are  always  safe  in  the  Yukon. 
Although  beer  and  liquors  are  sold,  the  ^men  are  rarely  disord- 
erly and  those  who  do  become  outrageous  are  quick!)-  put  in 
order  by  the  majority.  Dress,  employment  and  other  circum- 
stances make  the  men  of  the  Yukon  often  to  look  and  seem 
uncouth  and  coarse,  but  at  heart  they  are  noblemen,  and  this  is 
in  no  way  more  agreeably  shown  than  by  their  courteous  and 
gentle  treatment  of  women.  But  women  going  to  the  Klondike 
must  make  up  their  minds  to  live  in  a  primitive  way,  and  be  pre- 
pared to  endure  hardships  incident  to  a  new  and  Arctic  country." 

Mrs.  Gage's  Outfit. 

Mrs.  Gage's  outfit  in  many  things  is  like  that  ot  a  man  going 
in  to  "  rough  it"  in  the  w'ilderness,  and  her  brother,  of  course, 
looked  out  for  the  food  supplies  for  the  journey.  Yet,  it  may 
be  of  interest  to  women  who  think  of  going  to  the  Klondike 
overland  to  know  that  this  dainty  daughter  of  wealth  carried  for 
daily  wear  two  short  heavy  skirts  of  waterproof  cloth  made  a 
la  bicycle  skirt,  a  Iteavy  fur  coat,  warmly  lined  and  with  pockets 
enough  for  a  man,  besides  a  lined  hood  attachment  to  be  drawn 
over  the  head  and  face  in  cold  or  stormy  weather,  several  pairs 
of  stout  boots,  warm  leggings  and  overshoes,  a  mackintosh  and 
a  fleece-lined  sleeping-bag.  Then  there  was  plent)'  of  the  soft- 
est, warmest  underwear  in  the  hamper,  and  at  Juneau  Mrs.  Gage 


216  WOMEN    AT  THE   MINES. 

will  supply  herself  with  reindeer  hide  boots,  made  with  the 
soft  down  inside,  long,  tight  and  loose,  which  will  answer  either 
to  keep  out  the  water  in  case  of  accident  necessitating  wading 
ashore  or  during  a  possible  wet  experience  on  a  portage  or 
going  over  the  Chilkoot  Pass,  or  to  keep  out  the  cold  if  at  any 
time  the  more  civilized  boots  and  leggings  fail  to  meet  the 
demands  of  the  Arctic  temperature, 

"  Not  a  powder-box  nor  a  curling-iron  the  outfit,"  Mrs,  Gage 
said,  with  a  merry  laugh,  as  she  enumerated  the  list  of  her  bag- 
gage, or  "  luggage,"  as  she  preferred  to  term  it,  not  inappro- 
priately, because  it  would  have  to  be  "  lugged  "  so  far  and  often, 
"  and  only  a  small  hand-mirror.  Women  don't  have  to  '  dress 
up  '  to  be  appreciated  on  the  Yukon,  I  assure  you." 

Mrs.    Schwatka   no    Novice. 

Mrs.  Frederick  Schwatka  was  no  novice  in  Alaskan  experi- 
ences. She  had  been  there  with  her  husband  and  had  been  over 
much  of  the  ground  that  it  is  necessary  for  the  prospectors  to 
traverse  on  their  way  from  the  coast  to  the  gold  fields.  She 
was  fairly  familiar  with  the  various  routes  commonly  followed 
by  explorers  and  miners,  and  she  expressed  herself  to  the  effect 
that  the  Taku  Pass  would  prove  to  be  a  bonanza  to  the  first 
trading  company  that  established  a  system  of  pack  trains  from 
the  Taku  Inlet  through  to  Juneau,  which  is  the  base  of  supplies 
for  the  mining  region. 

Besides  being  the  easiest  route  for  the  miners  themselves,  it 
was,  she  thought,  preferable,  because  a  shallow  draft  steamer 
could  be  brought  to  run  on  the  Taku  river,  which  would  leave 
only  ninety  miles  of  land  to  be  crossed  to  get  to  Juneau. 

Mrs.  Schwatka,  in  discussing  the  difficulties  of  the  journey 
from  southern  Alaska  north,  said  that  her  husband  had  explored 
the  Taku  River  and  Pass  a  number  of  years  ago  and  that  he  tried 


WOMEN   AT  THE   MINES.  217 

to  get  the  people  of  Juneau  to  establish  a  pack  train  line  through 
the  pass  to  connect  with  a  steamboat  on  the  inlet.  That,  she 
said,  was  before  there  was  much  travel  througli  Juneau.  The 
people  of  the  then  thriving  village  did  not  believe  that  it  would 
be  a  success  financially. 

Grounds    for    Her  Belief. 

Now  she  thought  there  was  no  doubt  whatever  that  it  would 
be  a  paying  venture  and  would  be  a  boon  to  the  multitude  of 
people  who  were  pressing  on  to  the  gold  fields.     Said  she  : 

"  In  fact,  the  pass  contains  an  excellent  railroad  grade,  and  it 
would  cost  a  comparatively  small  sum  to  build  and  equip  a  road 
through  the  ninety  miles  between  Juneau  and  the  inlet.  The 
current  of  the  river  is  strong  and  there  are  frequent  floods,  but 
a  light  draft  steamer  would  have  no  difficulty  in  ascending  it  and 
making  connections  with  the  road  to  Juneau.  It  would  be  an 
easy  matter  to  get  supplies  from  Juneau  then.  The  Canadian 
Pacific  comes  so  near  to  that  country  it  seems  as  if  it  could 
profitably  build  a  line  through  the  pass  and  connect  the  two 
branches  by  steamer. 

"  Lieutenant  Schwatka  made  a  map  of  the  region,  which  I 
think  I  shall  have  published.  He  made  the  trip  up  the  river  by 
canoe  and  reported  the  current  there  very  swift  and  strong.  I 
am  certain  that  the  Taku  route  is  the  easiest  for  persons  going 
from  Juneau,  however." 

Mrs.  Schwatka,  like  most  people  who  have  had  any  lengthy 
experience  in  Alaska,  had  much  to  say  of  the  great  territorial 
pest,  the  mosquitos.  This  nuisance — not  nuisance,  evil  is  a  bet- 
ter word — cannot  be  overlooked  by  those  who  purpose  to  leave 
the  States  for  the  plains  and  mountains  of  Alaska. 

"The  pest,"  said  she,  "  is  not  so  observable,  of  course,  very  early 
in  the  spring  or  late  in  the  fall,  but  during  the  mining  months  the 


218  WOMEN   AT  THE    MINES. 

mosquitos  are  simply  intolerable.  The  Indians  even,  who  are 
hardened  to  them,  have  to  go  about  in  summer  with  their  hands 
and  faces  smeared  with  pitch  and  lampblack.  The  ordinary- 
mosquito  netting  is  no  protection  whatever,  because  the  mosquitos 
force  their  way  through  it. 

Mosquito  Bites  Fatal. 

"  Many  of  the  miners,  in  addition  to  adopting  the  plan  of  the 
Indians  and  anointing  themselves  with  pitch  and  lampblack,  work 
in  summer  with  their  heads  in  a  wire  frame  covered  with  close 
netting.  I  have  even  known  persons  to  die  merely  from  the 
bites  of  the  mosquitos. 

"  This  is  something  for  the  women  who  purpose  to  try  their 
fortunes  in  the  gold  fields  to  take  into  consideration.  They  will 
find  it  is  no  place,  either  in  summer  or  winter,  for  either  the 
dress  or  manners  to  which  they  have  been  accustomed  in  their 
southern  homes. 

"  Imagine,  for  instance,  a  society  belle,  or  a  woman  who  has 
had  gentle  rearing  and  been  accustomed  all  her  life  to  the  ordi- 
nary convenience  and  comforts  of  civilized  life,  going  into  the 
wilderness  of  a  country  about  which  we  know  very  little,  don- 
ning the  costume  largely  of  the  natives  and  subjecting  themselves 
to  all  the  hardships  and  privations  necessarily  incident  to  a  resi- 
dence in  that  country.  Especially  imagine  such  a  woman  smear- 
ing her  face  with  soot  and  grease  by  way  of  cosmetic  and  wearing 
over  her  coiffure  a  helmet  that  would  put  to  the  blush  in  point  of 
looks  and  inconvenience  the  shields  commonly  worn  by  the  men 
who  stand  behind  the  bat  in  the  game  of  base  ball." 

Speaking  from  personal  experience,  Mrs.  Schwatka  continued  : 

'•  In  the  summer  it  is  so  hot  in  the  river  regions  that  even 
the  moose  are  driven  away,  and  it  is  practically  impossible  to 
get  game  there,  in  spite  of  the  reports  that  are  sent  out.     It  will 


WOMEN   AT  THE   MINES.  219 

not  take  a  very  great  increase  in  the  white  population  to  kill  off 
all  the  game  there  is.  The  Indians  are  pretty  careful  and  don't 
kill  any  more  than  they  need  for  food,  but  it  will  not  be  that  way 
with  the  whites. 

"  The  salmon  do  not  ascend  the  Yukon  as  far  as  the  Klon- 
dike, either,  and  fishing  in  that  region  is  not  nearly  as  good  as 
it  is  made  out  to  be.  It  would  be  taking  a  great  risk  to  go 
there  depending  much  on  the  natural  resources  of  the  country 
for  food. 

"  Prospecting  in  Alaska  is  altogether  different  from  what  it 
was  in  California.  There  is  as  much  difference  between  the 
mountains  in  Alaska  and  the  most  mountainous  parts  of  Cali- 
fornia as  there  is  between  the  latter  and  the  Indiana  avenue 
pavement.  California  is  a  flat  plain  compared  with  it.  All  of 
the  Indians  up  there  die  of  consumption,  partly  brought  on  by 
the  climate  and  partly  by  the  hardships  they  have  to  endure. 

Steps  in  the  Ice. 

"  Why,  I  have  seen  these  Indians,  who  are  used  to  the  coun- 
try, come  in  with  packs  from  the  very  same  passes  which  the 
miners  are  now  crossing  with  welts  across  their  backs  from  the 
pack  straps  almost  as  thick  as  my  wrist.  Their  hands  would  be 
torn  and  lacerated  horribly.  The  only  way  they  can  get  through 
at  all  in  the  winter  is  by  cutting  steps  in  the  ice." 

Mrs,  Schwatka  gave  many  interesting  recollections  of  what 
she  had  experienced  and  witnessed  in  Alaska.  Adverting  to 
the  climate  she  continued  : 

"  About  the  middle  of  August  heavy  frosts  kill  all  vegetation, 
and  the  country  begins  this  early  to  take  on  an  Arctic  aspect. 
Furious  gales  begin  to  blow  from  the  north,  which  continue 
with  little  cessation  all  winter.  In  September  or  October,  at  the 
latest,  the  river  is  frozen  hard,  and  sledging,  as  in  the  Arctic,  is 


220  WOMEN   AT  THE    MINES. 

the  only  mode  of  travel  in  the  country  until  the  great  spring 
freshets  in  May  set  the  rivers  free.  As  you  can  readily  see,  the 
journey  to  the  gold  fields  by  this  route  is  not  only  a  very  long 
one,  but  a  very  expensive  one,  and  wholly  impracticable  for 
numbers  in  winter.  The  average  miner  and  prospector  must 
enter  Alaskan  fields  by  a  shorter  and  more  accessible  route, 
even  though  the  hardships  encountered  are  greater. 

For  a  number  of  years  past,  miners  going  to  and  from  the 
placer  gold  fields  at  Fort>'-MiIe  Creek,  and  Dawson  City,  and 
Circle  City,  have  used  the  Chilkoot  Pass,  outfitting  at  Juneau, 
the  principal  town  of  the  territory-.  The  Chilkat  and  White 
Passes  have  never  been  as  popular  with  the  miners  as  the  Chil- 
koot. Therefore,  I  shall  speak  of  the  Chilkoot,  as  they  are  all 
quite  similar. 

"  From  Juneau  the  Lynn  Canal  is  entered  at  Chilkat  Harbor. 
This  is  the  most  northerly  channel  in  the  inland  passage  route. 
This  Lynn  Canal  is  divided  by  a  long  peninsula.  The  southern 
side  is  Chilkat  and  the  northern  Chilkoot.  It  is  up  Chilkoot 
Inlet  miners  ascend,  and  thence  canoe  up  a  rapid,  glacier-fed 
mountain  stream  known  as  the  Dayay.  They  are  then  at  the 
foot,  or  near  the  foot,  of  the  great  pass.  This  so-called  pass  is 
really  no  pass  at  all,  but  a  precipitous  climb  of  over  3500  feet  up 
bare,  rugged  rocks,  and  over  great  snow  peaks,  and  across 
treacherous  glacier  ice. 

Must  Climb  by  Hand. 

"  So  steep  is  the  ascent  that  the  hands  of  the  climbers  must 
be  used  to  help  pull  themselves  up.  No  white  man  can  carry 
unaided  the  necessary  amount  of  provisions  and  material  required 
even  to  keep  him  from  star\'ation  until  he  can  reach  the  mines. 
For  this  reason  they  rarely  make  the  journey  alone,  but  always 
in  parties. 


Women  at  the  aones.  221 

"  It  is  necessary  to  bargain  with  the  Chilkat  Indians  to  act  as 
porters  and  carriers  over  the  trail.  They  have  in  the  past  car- 
ried loads  of  I oo  pounds  at  from  $io  to  ;^I5  a  load.  These 
they  take  over  the  dangerous  and  difficult  trail  to  the  top  of  the 
mountains  or  down  to  the  first  lake,  which  forms  the  source  of 
the  great  Yukon  River.  Here  again  obstacles  are  met  with,  and 
it  now  becomes  necessary  to  build  a  whipsawed  boat,  and  the 
little  timber  to  be  found  is  unsatisfactory  and  stunted." 

Mrs.  Schwatka  had  also  much  to  say  of  the  prospects  of  the 
people  who  went  there  and  what  they  would  have  to  expect. 
She  was  satisfied  that  there  were  great  hopes  for  the  man  of 
pluck,  energy  and  perseverance  ;  but  she  was  also  convinced  that 
it  was  policy  even  for  people  of  this  stamp  to  go  expecting  worse 
than  had  commonly  been  represented  at  the  time  when  she  was 
interviewed.     Said  she : 

"  I  believe  that  a  great  deal  of  gold  is  going  to  be  found  along 
White  River  also.  That  is  in  Alaska,  and  not  much  prospecting 
has  been  done  there  yet,  I  understand.  When  I  was  last  in 
Alaska,  five  years  ago,  the  so-called  '  Klondike  '  was  an  unknown 
and  untalked  of  region  and  almost  unheard  of  Lieutenant 
Schwatka  explored  the  country,  and  brought  back  a  good  many 
photographs  and  maps  of  it  which  are  very  interesting.  I  believe 
the  Klondike  is  nothing  more  than  a  little  creek,  w^hich,  as  it  was 
about  the  first  place  in  that  region  where  gold  was  found,  gave 
its  name  to  the  whole  region,  and  has  assumed  the  importance 
of  the  Yukon  River  itself  in  the  eyes  of  the  people  who  read 
about  it. 

"  I  have  already  spoken  of  the  lack  of  work  during  the  long 
winter  season.  It  must  not  be  understood  that  no  work  can  Lc 
done,  then,  for  many  miners  spend  the  winter  prospecting  in 
places  where  it  would  be  impracticable  in  summer.  On  some 
submerged  bar  they  build  a  fire,  and  when  it  burns  down  they 


222  WOMEN  AT  I'HE   MINES. 

pick  and  shovel  out  the  gravel  as  far  as  the  warmth  has  penetra- 
ted. This  is  repeated  until  they  sink  a  shaft  to  bedrock.  In 
summer  the  water  pouring  through  the  loose  gravel  prevents 
deep  shafting  except  by  expensive  works. 

Mining   Very  Difficult. 

"  Again  in  summer  the  work  of  the  miner  is  difficult.  As  I 
have  said,  the  interior  country  is  tundra  land — that  is,  the  earth 
is  frozen  to  a  great  depth,  never  entirely  thawing  out.  Wherever 
the  sun  strikes  the  surface  great  pools  of  muddy  water  are 
formed,  and  this  prevents  any  sort  of  prospecting.  These  pools 
of  stagnant  water  breed  great  swarms  of  mosquitos  and  gnats, 
which  make  it  desirable  to  cover  the  head  with  mosquito  netting, 
or,  better  still,  adopt  the  Indian  method,  and  smear  the  hands 
and  face  with  a  mixture  of  grease  and  soot,  which  prevents  the 
pests  from  biting. 

"At  some  seasons  in  this  country  they  are  in  such  dense 
swarms  that  at  night  they  will  practically  cover  a  mosquito  net- 
ting fairly  touching  each  other,  and  crowding  through  any  kind 
of  mesh.  I  have  heard  it  asserted  by  people  of  experience  that 
they  form  co-operative  societies  and  assist  each  other  through 
the  meshes  by  pushing  behind  and  puUing  in  front.  Others  again 
say  they  are  too  mean  for  such  generous  action." 

In  Mrs.  Schwatka's  opinion,  Juneau  was  bound  to  be  the  most 
important  trading  centre  of  Alaska  for  the  mining  district,  and 
she  thought  that  it  was  eminently  desirable  that  capitalists  with 
the  means  at  their  disposal  should  take  steps  without  delay  to 
make  more  sure  and  ample  the  food  supply  of  the  Yukon  Val- 
ley. The  main  reason  why  she  insisted  on  this  was,  that  the 
game  had  largely  been  driven  awa}'  from  the  mining  districts 
and  that  it  was  a  menace  to  the  health  of  those  who  had  cour- 
age to  penetrate  the  wilds  to  have  to  live  week  after  week  and 


WOMEN  AT  THE   MINES.  223 

month  after  month  on  dried  fish,  as  the  Indians  do,  or  on  canned 
goods  exclusively. 

Speaking  of  the  scarcity  of  game  in  the  Yukon  Valley,  Mrs. 
Schwatka  said  : 

The  great  Yukon  Valley  has  but  little  game  in  it  during  the 
summer,  for  the  mosquitos  drive  all  game  to  higher  altitudes. 
Formerly  during  the  winter  season  a  living  could  be  made  by 
experienced  hunters  in  bringing  moose  and  caribou  meat  to 
camp.  I  heard  one  miner  say,  who  had  spent  four  winters  on 
the  Yukon,  that  he  had  seen  moose  and  caribou  so  numerous 
on  the  bald  hills  above  timber  limit,  in  the  present  gold-field 
district  that  they  gave  the  snow  a  mottled  gray  appearance. 

'  Of  course  these  have  now  disappeared  with  the  advance  of 
civilization,  and  fresh  meat  of  any  kind  is  now  at  a  premium. 
To  illustrate  how  abundant  this  game  was  but  a  few  years  ago,  a 
hunter  captured  a  couple  of  young  moose  and  they  were  made 
great  pets  among  the  miners  during  the  long  winter. 

"  This  scarcity  of  game  of  all  kinds,"  continued  Mrs.  Schwatka, 
"coupled  with  the  great  number  of  people  entering  the  country, 
will  in  the  near  future  be  productive  of  great  suffering,  unless 
positive  and  decisive  steps  are  taken  to  make  the  food  supply 
ample  and  sure,  as  I  have  said.  Tin  and  canned  goods  are  very 
high  in  price,  and  it  seems  a  wrong  to  the  miners  that,  for  a  lack 
of  ample  transportation  facilities,  which,  in  my  opinion,  might  be 
easily  provided,  they  are  subjected  to  the  dangers  of  the  diet 
they  have  to  put  up  with. 

Scurvy  a  Terror. 

"  Scurvy  is  one  of  the  greatest  evils  of  camp  life,  and  this  is 
engendered  and  fostered  by  the  diet  the  men  and  women  in 
the  Klondike  region  have  thus  far  had  to  endure.  It  is  only 
a  hearty  man   who,  in    face   of   the    hardships    and    privations 


224  WOMEN  At  THE   MlXfiS. 

to  which  the  mining  community  is  subjected,  can  survive 
the  six  or  eight  months  of  dim  twilight  of  the  winter  season, 
with  the  thermometer  ranging  anywhere  from  fort)^  to  ninety 
degrees  below  zero." 

Mrs,  Schwatka  thought  that  great  care  should  be  taken  by 
those  who  tempted  fortune  in  the  wilds  of  Alaska  in  the 
matter  of  providing  a  suitable  outfit.  She  was  convinced 
that  a  great  many  had  gone  and  would  likely  go,  who  were 
little  fitted  to  the  experiences  they  would  have  to  face,  but, 
said  she  : 

"  Those  who  are  determined  to  go  should  not  only  take  the 
necessary  winter  clothing,  but  be  prepared  to  invest  in  Arctic 
furs — a  reindeer  coat,  suitable  boots  and  leggings,  and  a  fur 
sleeping  bag.  Skins  of  the  temperate  zone  do  not  make  the 
best  clothing  for  this  purpose.  A  reindeer  sleeping  bag  will  keep 
one  warm  in  the  severest  weather  and  is  a  necessity,  especially 
if  one  is  to  try  to  pass  the  winter  in  a  tent,  as  I  have  heard 
man}'  will  do. 

"  Even  the  Indians  of  the  countr\^  take  extra  precautions  in 
preparing  their  lodges  in  winter,  building  houses  of  brush  and 
logs.  With  proper  clothing  and  plenty  of  nutritious  food  the 
problem  in  this  land  is  easily  solv^ed." 

"Warning  to  the   Sex. 

In  conclusion  Tvlrs.  Schwatka  wished  earnestly  to  give  warning 
Lo  her  sisters  who  were  likely  to  seek  their  fortunes  in  thj 
unknown  country.  She  said  she  did  not  wish  to  discourage 
those  who  thought  it  to  their  interest  to  brave  the  perils,  but 
considering  all  things,  and  .speaking  from  her  own  hard  experi- 
ence, she  thought  that  the  average  woman  would  find  it  more  to 
her  interest,  and  certainly  more  to  her  comfort,  to  leave  the 
dangers  incident  to  the  extremes  of  climate,  dangers  of  diet,  and 


WOMEN   AT  THE   MINES.  225 

hardships  of  travel  to  the  men,  who  are  better  able  naturally  to 
support  what  will  have  to  be  undergone.     Said  she  : 

"  To  keep  from  freezing  it  requires  the  same  sort  of  clothing 
that  the  Arctic  explorers  wear — nil  furs  and  no  woolens.  The 
fur  coats  arc  made  by  the  Esquimeaux  from  skins  brought  over 
from  Siberia,  and  it  is  likely  that  they  will  cost  a  great  deal  more 
than  they  ever  did  before. 

"Alaska  is  a  poor  place  for  women  and  noplace  at  all  for  children. 
Of  course,  many  women  are  able  to  endure  hardships  and  fatigue 
just  as  well  as  the  men,  and  it  might  not  be  so  bad  for  them  to 
go  there  in  summer.     It  is  a  fearfully  hard  life  there  at  best." 

Miss  Anna  Fulcomer,  like  Mrs.  Schwatka,  has  had  a  former 
experience  in  Alaska.  She  is  of  Norse  descent,  and  is  thoronghly 
imbued  w'ith  all  her  race's  traditional  love  of  adventure.  As 
said  above,  she  went  to  Alaska  on  her  second  trip  as  a  Govern- 
ment employe,  receiving  a  good  salary  and  being  screened  from 
many  of  the  hardships  to  which  other  women  who  went  to  the 
Alaskan  gold  mines  were  subjected.  But  she,  like  the  rest, 
became  touched  with  the  craze  for  gold,  and  determined  to  leave 
her  school  in  Circle  City,  which,  soon  after  the  Klondike  fever 
broke  out,  became  virtually  a  deserted  town,  and  try  her 
fortunes  with  the  rest  of  the  prospectors. 

Got  a  Man  for  Nothing. 

So  she  hired  a  dog  for  $^o,  agreeing  to  pay  $75  if  anything 
happened  to  the  animal,  and  had  a  man  thrown  in  for  nothing. 
A  few  days  after  her  determination  to  quit  Circle  City,  she  was 
on  the  trail  of  the  gold-seeking  throng.  It  did  not  take  her  a 
great  while  to  discover  that  it  is  not  all  gold  that  glitters,  and 
before  she  had  been  many  days  on  her  enterprise  her  hopes  were 
a  good  deal  like  Alaskan  w^eather,  so  far  below  zero,  that  she 
could  scarcely  read  the  thermometer.  Some  of  her  experiences 
15 


226  •     WOMEN  AT  THE   MINES. 

can  best  be  told  in  her  own  language.  Said  she  relative  to  the 
difficulties  of  beginning  her  enterprise  : 

"A  dog,  a  dog,  my  kingdom  for  a  dog,"  is  the  general  cry 
here.  Horses  have  practically  proved  a  failure  here  as  a  means 
of  transportation.  They  have  to  be  housed  in  tents  in  which  a 
fire  is  kept.  The  dogs,  however,  live  on  next  to  nothing,  and 
often  make  quite  astonishing  time.  We  had  a  visitor  at  the 
house  I  am  living  in,  some  time  ago,  who  came  on  a  dog  sledge 
eighty  miles  in  nineteen  hours,  without  once  stopping.  Another 
man  came  here  240  miles  in  five  days. . 

"  The  relative  value  placed  on  men  and  dogs  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  I  could  get  an  experienced  man  for  my  trip  to  Klondike 
for  nothing,  but  had  to  pay  $30  rental  for  a  dog,  and  had  to 
make  a  contract  to  pay  $75  if  anything  happened  to  the  animal. 
The  hopes  of  hundreds  here  rest  on  their  ability  to  get  a  bob- 
tailed  dog.  When  I  set  out  on  my  gold-finding  enterprise  I 
found  that  my  case  was  not  an  exception." 

Good  Word  for  Morals. 

Miss  Fulcomer  has  a  very  good  word  to  say  for  the  morals  of 
the  Klondike  mining  camps.  During  her  year  of  residence  at 
Circle  City  she  knew  of  no  murder  being  committed,  and  of  very 
little  lawlessness  of  any  sort.  The  miners,  she  said,  practically 
make  a  law  unto  themselves,  and  woe  betide  the  man  rash 
enough  or  dishonest  enough  to  violate  the  unwritten  code. 
Continuing,  she  said  : 

"  One  of  the  peculiar  features  of  the  new  camp  is  the  lack  of 
shooting,  due  to  the  fact  that  the  Canadian  government  does  not 
permit  men  to  carry  firearms.  Police  disarm  miners  when  they 
enter  the  district,  so  that  there  is  not  any  of  the  lawlessness  and 
crime  which  marked  early  placer  mining  in  California.  There  is 
much  gambling  and  play  is  high. 


WOMEN   AT  THE   MINES.  227 

"  '  Lawyers  and  other  disturbers  of  the  peace  '  are  kept  out, 
and  this  is  the  reason  assigned  for  the  quiet  and  order  that 
prevail. 

"  The  camps  are  in  no  sense  to  be  compared  with  the  camps 
in  California  during  the  gold  fever  there,"  says  Miss  Fulcomer. 
"  Their  inaccessibility  in  a  large  measure  protects  them  from 
desperate  characters.  It  is  a  900-mile  trip  over  the  snow  from 
Juneau  to  the  gold  fields,  and  it  is  a  hardy  person  who  would 
enter  upon  a  trip  that  none  but  Arctic  explorers  ordinarily  would 
undertake.  The  climate,  too,  makes  living  out  of  doors  impos- 
sible, and  it  costs  money  to  live  under  shelter.  These  condi- 
tions, as  you  will  readily  understand,  help  to  keep  away  mere 
adventurers. 

Side-tracked  in  Desolation. 

"  But  it  is  a  dreary  place  to  be  side-tracked  in.      The  average 
miner  and  prospector  is  buoyed  up  by  the  knowledge  that  there 
is  gold  in  abundance  on  the  Yukon,  and  the  hope  that  he  may 
make  a  fortune  quickly.     For  the  rest  of  one's  personal  experi 
ence,  the  less  glowing  accounts  that  are  given  the  better." 

Like  Mrs.  Schwatka,  Miss  Fulcomer  wished  to  emphasize  the 
fact  that  Alaska  in  the  mining  regions  is  anything  but  a  paradise. 
She  said  she  pitied  the  people  who  came  there  under  the  delusion 
that  mining  life  there  was  anything  to  be  compared  with  that 
which  obtained  in  California  in  the  days  of  the  gold  excitement 
in  that  State.  There  were  only  four  months  in  the  year,  she 
said — May,  June,  July  and  August — when  mining  was  possible, 
and  even  then  the  ground  thawed  no  more  than  two  or  three 
inches.  The  rest  of  the  time  the  soil  was  virtually  like  a  solid 
rock,  and  to  make  matters  worse  the  thermometer  was  likely  to 
be  from  ninety  to  ninety-five  degrees  below  zero. 

"  One  of  the  great  causes  of  suffering  here,"  she  said,  "  is 
that  Americans  put  on  their  heaviest  clothing  almost  as  soon  as 


228  WOMEN   AT  THE    MINES. 

they  get  here.  The  result  is  that  when  regular  winter  weather 
sets  in  and  the  thermometer  gets  down  to  eighty  or  ninety  degrees 
below  zero,  they  nearly  perish.  This,  with  the  difficulty  of  get- 
ting good,  fresh,  wholesome  living,  makes  the  Yukon  gold  region 
anything  but  an  Eldorado. 

"This,"  Miss  Fulcomer  explains,  "is  not  because  there  is  not 
gold  at  Klondike — there  is  gold  in  abundance,  dirt  rich  enough 
on  some  claims  to  yield  from  $iOO  to  $500  per  pan;  but  it  is 
mined  with  difficulty,  mined  in  a  small  way,  mined  slowly,  so 
that  for  the  average  experienced  digger  the  profits  are  swallowed 
up  in  the  expenses.  Men  who  have  been  mining  at  other  points 
in  Alaska  and  the  British  Dominion  virtually  abandoned  their 
old  claims,  owing  to  the  craze  over  Klondike,  hurried  there  and 
staked  off  their  claims,  and  are  holding  or  working  them.  This 
was  early  in  the  movement,  and  consequently  newcomers  have 
to  be  content  with  the  leavings  of  the  old  men  in  the  work." 

First   to  Cross  the  Divide. 

Dawson  City  at  the  time  the  Klondike  fever  broke  out  in  its 
full  intensity,  had  a  population  of  2500  souls,  and  of  these  only 
thirty-three  were  women.  To  Mrs.  Tom  Lippy  belongs  the 
unique  distinction  of  being  the  first  to  cross  the  divide  and  go 
into  the  new  Klondike  camp.  She  is  described  as  a  little,  lithe, 
brown-haired,  brown-eyed  woman,  to  whom  fear  is  practically 
unknown.  Unlike  many  of  the  women  in  the  camp,  she,  for  a 
long  time  clung  to  her  costume  of  civilization,  dressed  neatly 
and  even  stylishly.  She  followed  her  husband  and  her  husband's 
fortunes,  and  did  not  think  she  was  doing  anything  out  of  the 
way  in  braving  the  same  perils  he  was  obliged  to  face.  Said  she, 
when  asked  about  her  trip  and  her  life  in  the  gold  region  : 

"  I  was  the  first  white  woman  on  the  creek  and  the  only  one 
in  our  camp.     There  was  another  one  mile  from  us,  Mrs.  Berry. 


WOMEN   AT  THE   MINES.  229 

She  was  the  only  white  woman  I  had  to  speak  to  while  we  were 
at  camp.  When  we  got  to  Eldorado  Creek  we  lived  in  a  tent 
until  Mr  Lippy  got  our  log  cabin  built.  It  is  twelve  feet  by 
eight,  eight  logs  high,  with  mud  and  moss  roof  and  moss  between 
the  chinks,  and  has  a  door  and  window.  Mr.  Lippy  made  the 
furniture — a  rough  bed,  table,  and  some  stools.  We  had  a 
stove — there  are  plenty  of  stoves  in  that  country — and  that  was 
all  we  needed.  The  cabin  was  cozy  and  warm.  I  looked  after 
the  housekeeping  and  Mr.  Lippy  after  the  mining. 

"  Everything  we  had  to  eat  was  canned.  Things  were  canned 
that  I  never  knew  could  be  canned  before.  Of  course,  we 
missed  fresh  food  dreadfully,  but  wc  kept  well  and  strong.  We 
had  no  fresh  milk  or  meats  or  fruits  or  eggs. 

Dearth  of  Amusements. 

"  Amusements  ?  Well,  nobody  bothered  much  about  amuse- 
ments. Everyone  was  busy  and  kept  busy  all  the  time.  I  did 
my  work.  Mining  is  hard  work — one  doesn't  pick  gold  off  the 
ground.  It  is  genuine  toil,  and  when  Mr.  Lippy  finished  he 
wanted  to  rest.     All  men  were  about  alike  on  that  point. 

"  Fashion  ?  Well,  we  were  not  entirely  cut  off  from  the  fash- 
ionable world.  People  were  coming  in  all  the  time.  We  got 
fashion  papers,  a  few  months  old,  to  be  sure,  but  still  they  kept 
MS  fairly  up  to  time." 

Most  people  who  have  taken  interest  in  the  report  of  the  Klon- 
dike region  will  remember  Joseph  Ladue,  who  owns  the  site  of 
Dawson  City.  On  returning  to  Plattsburg,  New  York,  early 
last  August  Mr.  Ladue  had  some  interesting  gossip  about  women 
at  the  mining  camps.  Several  of  those  who  had  faced  the  dan- 
gers of  the  journey  to  Klondike,  he  said,  were  doing  well  and 
would  likely  be  large  gainers  by  their  enterprise.      Said  he  : 

"  There  are  women  there  who  own  property.     Susie  Lamar  is 


230  WOMEN   AT  THE    MINES. 

one.  She  is  a  single  woman  who  came  from  Germany.  She 
has  been  cooking  for  me  and  my  partner.  I  guess  she  has  done 
pretty  well.      I  pay  her  $40  a  month  right  along. 

"  Lottie  Barnes  also  owns  property  there.  She  came  over  the 
divide  two  years  ago  and  settled  on  Second  avenue.  She  was 
formerly  in  Circle  City. 

"There  is  also  a  Mrs.  Willis,  who  has  quite  a  history.  She 
went  in  with  my  party  two  years  ago.  In  the  party  were  Ellis 
Turner,  from  Schuyler  Falls  ;  William  Lamay,  George  Mulligan 
and  myself  She  joined  our  party  at  Juneau,  where  she  had  been 
working  in  the  laundry.  She  is  about  forty-five  years  old,  a 
blonde,  stout  and  rugged.  She  pulled  her  own  sled  weighing 
250  pounds  from  Lake  Linderman  through  to  Lake  Labarge, 
about  700  miles. 

"Women  of  Enterprise. 

"  Before  she  came  there  she  was  stewardess  on  the  steamer 
Willipaw,  when  I  first  met  her.  She  went  first  to  Circle  City, 
where  she  started  a  laundry  and  bake  shop.  She  did  pretty 
well.  I  think  she  got  fifty  cents  a  loaf  for  bread — pound  loaves 
made  from  wheat  flour.  She  went  out  two  years  ago  as  a  nurse 
for  the  steamship  company.  I  think  she  went  as  far  as  San 
Francisco.  She  returned  the  next  spring.  That  time  she 
brought  in  herself,  with  the  aid  of  two  dogs,  about  750  pounds, 
including  a  sewing  machine. 

"  That  was  not  the  first  sewing  machine  brought  in.  Mrs. 
Behan,  wife  of  a  banana  trader,  brought  in  the  first  machine  about 
twenty  years  before.  Two  years  ago  I  suppose  there  were  prob- 
ably forty  or  fifty  sewing  machines  in  the  country. 

"  There  were  pianos  there.  The  pianos  and  organs  were 
principally  in  the  dance-houses  and  theatres  at  Circle  City." 

Klondike  is  not  much  of  a  place,  as  the  reader  will  readily 


WOMEN  AT  THE   MINES.  231 

understand,  for  style,  but  once  in  awhile  there  is  a  "  boiled  shirt  " 
to  be  seen  there,  and  to  Mrs.  J.  P.  Wills,  of  Tacoma,  is  due  the 
honor  of  introducing  the  first  one.  She  is  described  as  a  women 
of  iron  will,  whose  husband  is  a  g"un  or  locksmith  and  virtually 
a  cripple  from  rheumatism.  His  illness  made  it  impossible  for 
him  to  undergo  the  dangers  of  the  journey  and  penetrate  to  the 
frozen  North,  but  his  wife  said  she  would  go  for  him,  and  go  she 
did. 

She  settled  at  one  of  the  mining  camps  and  for  two  years  made 
so  little  money  that  she  was  practically  disheartened.  Then  the 
Klondike  mines  were  discovered  and  Mrs.  Wills  was  among  the  first 
to  join  a  party  of  cattle  men  and  hurry  to  the  new  region.  She 
began  her  career  in  Alaska  as  a  washerwoman  ;  then  she  went 
to  work  as  a  cook  for  the  Alaska  Commercial  Company,  at  Daw- 
son City,  and  received  fifteen  dollars  a  day  for  her  services. 

Her  Experience  a  Romance. 

When  she  joined  the  throng  heading  for  Klondike  she  asserted 
her  determination  to  abandon  the  work  she  had  been  doing-  and 
take  a  claim.  She  did  so,  and  in  a  few  weeks  struck  it  so  rich 
that  instead  of  being  a  poor  washerwoman  she  was  worth  a 
quarter  of  a  million  dollars. 

While  doing  washing  Mrs.  Wills  introduced  the  first  "  boiled 
shirt"  into  the  Yukon  gold  camp  and  paid  ;$2.50  for  the  box  of 
starch  with  which  she  starched  it.  Her  first  assistant  in  the 
laundry  was  a  squaw,  to  whom  Mrs.  Wills  paid  four  dollars  a 
day  and  board.  Her  little  log  cabin  cost  her  thirty-five  dollars  a 
month  and  her  supply  of  wood  for  the  winter  cost  $225.  A 
twenty-five-cent  washboard  cost  her  six  times  that  amount,  and, 
while  she  made  a  small  fortune  washing  and  baking  bread,  Mrs. 
Wills  complains  that  the  trading  company  got  most  of  it.  Mrs. 
Wills  parts  her  hair  on  the  side  like  a  man  and  is  stout  and  jolly. 


232  WOMEN  AT  THE   MINES. 

She  is  fifty  years  of  age  and  is  industrious  and  a  good  business  woman. 
The  Catholic  Church  has  long  had  a  representation  in  the 
frozen  wilds  of  the  North,  but  almost  immediately  when  the 
Klondike  gold  fields  were  discovered,  two  Sisters  of  Mercy, 
young  women  from  Lachine,  in  the  Province  of  Quebec,  headed 
their  way  for  San  Francisco  on  their  errand  of  mercy,  braving  all 
the  severities  of  an  Arctic  winter,  that  they  might  render  such 
service  in  the  campHfe  that  might  be  demanded  of  them.  The 
two  young  women  belonged  to  the  Sisterhood  of  St.  Anne. 
When  they  started  they  did  not  expect  to  be  able  to  go  any  fur- 
ther than   St.  Michael's,  completing  the  journey   at  the  earliest 

possible  moment. 

Mercy  Their  Motive. 

When  the  girls  started  there  were  already  thirteen  sisters  of- 
the  Order  of  St.  Anne  in  Alaska,  some  at  St.  Michael's,  others 
at  Holy  Cross  and  St.  Joseph,  and  the  remainder  at  Circle  Cit>'. 
At  this  latter  town  the  sisters  run  a  hospital,  and  it  was  to  work 
in  the  hospital  for  a  time  and  then  push  on  farther  into  the  wil- 
derness that  these  two  brave  young  women  undertook  their  haz- 
ardous journey. 

Importation  of  young  women  into  Northern  Alaska  as  wives 
for  the  miners  is  the  project  one  elderly  dame  laid  before  the 
officials  of  the  North  American  Transportation  and  Trading 
Company.  She  figured  that  at  least  2000  of  the  10,000  hardy 
prospectors  in  the  Klondike  would  like  to  get  married  right  away 
and  would  be  willing  to  pay  a  good  price  for  the  proper  kind  of 
helpmeets. 

"I  am  organizing  a  company,"  she  said,  "and  want  your 
indorsement.  You  can  make  money  off  the  transportation  and 
board  of  the  women,  and  the  commissions  from  the  miners  will 
insure  my  company  a  big  profit.  Now,  I  want  you  to  take  some 
of  the  stock  in  pay  for  the  passage  of  myself  and   two   or  three 


WOMEN   AT  THE   MINES.  233 

agents  while  we  run   up   there   to   make  arrangements   and — ." 
But  Mr.  Weare  shut  her  off  and  made  his  escape. 

Charlotte  Smith,  the  Eastern  sociologist,  wants  to  transplant 
4000  or  more  working  women  from  sweatshops  and  factories  to 
Klondike  camps.  Hers  is  not  a  money-making  scheme— she  is 
laboring  solely  in  what  she  thinks  the  best  interests  of  humanity. 
Transposition  from  a  life  of  drudgery,  with  a  bare  pittance  in  the 
way  of  wages,  to  homes  in  Alaska  would,  in  Miss  Smith's 
opinion,  be  a  blessing  which  thousands  of  women  would  be 
glad  to  embrace.  To  carry  out  her  plans  funds  are  needed,  but  no 
big  subscriptions  thus  far  have  been  reported.  In  the  meantime 
an  enrollment  is  going  on  of  those  women  who  are  willing  to 
take  their  chances  in  the  frozen  North. 

Went  for  Business. 

Another  woman  wanted  to  get  ^2000  to  use  in  organizing  a 
company  to  locate  gold  placer  claims.  She  was  endowed  with 
powers  of  clairvoyance  and  could  unerringly  point  out  hidden 
deposits  of  precious  metals.  She  had  done  so  with  great  suc- 
cess in  California  and  Colorado,  and  would  now  like  to  try  her 
hand  in  Alaska.  Suggestion  that  clairvoyance  should  enable 
her  to  pick  out  a  backer  was  taken  as  a  personal  insult,  and  she 
departed  in  high  dudgeon. 

There  is  a  touch  of  romance  and  good  fortune  in  the  story  of 
Mrs.  Capt.  Healy.  She  went  to  the  Klondike  region  a  poor 
woman  and  soon  became  a  mine  owner.  Opposite  the  Klondike 
River  on  the  rocky  cliffs  that  project  into  the  Yukon  is  the 
pioneer  quartz  mine  of  the  countr}'.  It  was  at  this  point  that 
what  is  known  as  the  great  copper  belt  crosses  the  river.  Cap- 
tain Hcaly  of  the  North  American  Transportation  and  Trading 
Company,  a  couple  of  years  ago,  located  on  a  ledge  after  a  ver}' 
superficial  examination  of  it. 


284  WOMEN   AT  THE    MINES. 

Quartz  mines  were  at  that  time  practically  ignored,  and  after 
a  while  the  captain  forgot  the  circumstance  of  his  owning  a 
claim,  and  made  a  trip  on  the  company's  business  to  Sixty- Mile. 
It  was  on  this  trip  that  he  recalled  the  circumstance  of  his  own- 
ing the  claim,  and,  while  passing  it,  made  the  remark  : 

"  It's  good-looking  rock,"  said  the  captain,  "  but  I  don't  think 
I  will  bother  with  it.  There  will  be  plenty  of  time  for  consider- 
ing quartz." 

"Aren't  you  going  to  claim  it?"  asked  Mrs.  Healy. 

"  No  ;   I  don't  care  to  bother  with  it — not  now." 

"  If  you  don't  want  it,  I  do.  I  will  locate  it  and  pay  for  the 
assessment  work." 

"  Well,  it's  your  mine,  then." 

Mrs.  Healy  Begins  Work. 

And  so  Mrs.  Healy  re-located  it,  and  they  set  a  man  to  work 
out  the  first  assessment  and  took  samples  of  the  ore.  Mrs. 
Healy  named  it  the  Four-Leaf  Clover,  so  if  anyone  sees  it 
quoted  in  the  mining  exchanges,  away  up  pretty  high,  he  may 
know  it  is  her  mine. 

They  gave  the  samples  to  the  assayer,  and  they  show  from  ;^8 
to  5i6  to  the  ton  in  gold,  in  addition  to  a  good  percentage  in 
copper.      The  vein  is  eighty  feet  wide. 

Early  in  August,  Miss  Georgia  Osborne,  of  Jacksonville,  III,  a 
miss  of  twenty-two  summers,  accompanied  by  Mrs.  M.  L. 
Keiser,  of  the  same  place,  set  out  for  the  Klondike  diggings. 
Mrs.  Keiser  said  she  had  scaled  the  Alps  and  knew  how  to 
rough  it,  but  Miss  Osborne  had  had  no  experience  of  that  sort, 
but  was  brave  enough  to  face  the  dangers  without  question. 

Miss  Mary  Elizabeth  Mellor,  Superintendent  of  the  United 
States  Indian  Training  School  at  Unalaska,  Alaska,  took  a  trip 
to  the    Klondike   regions,  and   for  a   time  experienced  all  the 


WOMEN   AT  THE    MINES.  235 

dangers  and  hardships  of  camp  Hfe.  She  returned  to  Seattle  on 
the  steamer  Portland,  early  in  July  of  the  present  year,  and  in 
speaking  of  the  short  summers  and  long  winters  of  the  northern 
wilds,  of  the  scarcity  of  food  and  inadequacy  of  the  clothing 
supply,  touched  upon  the  hardships  of  the  miners  and  said 
their  sufferings  were  often  something  terrible.     She  said  : 

"When  I  left  flour  was  selling  at  the  rate  of  550  a  sack, 
and  if  the  luxury  of  eggs  was  indulged  in  the  consumers  paid 
$4.  per  dozen.  Then  it  must  be  remembered  that  each  egg  of 
the  twelve  was  not  what  a  Pennsylvania  farmer  w^ould  consider 
freshly  laid.  Clothing  is  also  hard  to  obtain  and  is  high  in  price, 
the  majority  of  the  gold-seekers  wearing  clothes  made  of  coarse 
woolen  blankets." 

Romance  of  Courtship. 

Clarence  J.  Berry  is  commonly  called  the  Barney  Barnato  of 
the  Klondike,  and  his  bride  the  belle  of  the  mining  district.  The 
couple  made  one  of  the  most  fortunate  strikes  at  the  dig- 
gings. He  took  out  $130,000  from  the  top  dirt  of  one  of  his 
claims  in  five  months,  all  of  which  was  clear  profit,  barring 
$22,000  which  he  paid  to  his  miners.  His  wife,  the  bride  of  but 
a  short  time,  was  equally  as  energetic  and  fortunate.  She  had 
her  own  claim  and  is  reported  to  have  lifted  out  $10,000  or 
more  in  her  spare  moments. 

Berr}^  and  his  wife  went  to  the  Klondike  on  their  honeymoon. 
They  were  gone  but  fifteen  months,  came  back  wealthy  to  San 
Francisco,  the  happy  possessors  of  claims  that  are  supposed  to 
be  worth  millions  of  dollars.  And  behind  these  millions  ot  dol- 
lars there  is  a  pretty  romance  which  is  worth  relating  : 

Berry  was  a  fruit  raiser  in  the  southern  part  of  California. 
He  did  not  have  any  money.  There  was  no  particular  prospect 
that  he  would  ever  have  any.      He  saw  a  life  of  hard  plodding 


236  WOMEN   AT  THE   MINES. 

for  a  bare  living.  There  was  no  opportunity  at  home  for  get- 
ting ahead,  and,  like  other  men  of  the  far  West,  he  only  dreamed 
of  the  day  when  he  would  make  a  strike  and  get  his  million. 

This  was  three  years  ago.  There  had  then  come  down  from 
the  frozen  lands  of  Alaska  wonderful  stories  of  rewards  for  men 
brave  enough  to  run  a  fierce  ride  with  death  from  starvation  and 
cold.  He  had  nothing  to  lose  and  all  to  gain.  He  concluded 
to  face  the  dangers. 

His  capital  was  $40.  He  proposed  to  risk  it  all — not  very 
much  to  him  now,  but  a  mighty  sight  three  years  ago.  It  took 
all  but  five  dollars  to  get  him  to  Juneau.  He  had  two  big  arms, 
the  physique  of  a  giant  and  the  courage  of  an  explorer.  Pre- 
senting all  these  as  his  only  collaterals,  he  managed  to  squeeze 
a  loan  of  $60  from  a  man  who  was  afraid  to  go  with  him,  but 
was  willing  to  risk  a  little  in  return  for  a  promise  to  pay  back 
the  advance  at  a  fabulous  rate  of  interest. 

Pluck  Carried  Him  Through. 

Juneau  at  that  time  was  alive  with  men  who  had  heard  from 
the  Indians  of  rich  finds  of  gold,  and  had  seen  samples  of  the 
rock  and  sand  which  they  had  brought.  A  party  of  forty  men 
was  formed  and  Berry  was  one  of  the  forty.  Each  took  a  com- 
plete outfit  and  a  year's  mess  of  frozen  meat  and  sufficient  furs, 
packed  the  stuff  to  the  top  of  the  Chilkoot  Pass  and  pushed  on 
toward  the  interior.  Thirty-seven  of  the  forty  turned  back  in 
despair,  but  Berry  was  one  of  the  three  who  had  pluck  enough 
to  hold  out,  he  being  obliged  to  borrow  bacon  and  other  sup- 
plies to  get  through,  and  landing  at  the  diggings  without  a  cent 
in  his  pocket. 

He  reached  Forty-Mile  within  a  month  and  began  work  at 
j^lOO  a  month.  He  soon  secured  a  claim  and  on  finding  him- 
self on  the  highway  to  wealth  sent  word  t5  Miss  Ethel  D.  Bush, 


WOMEN  AT  THE   MINES.  237 

to  whom  he  was  engaged,  telling  her  of  his  good  fortune  and 
holding  her  to  her  pledge.  Berry  then  went  for  his  bride,  and 
soon  the  couple  were  on  their  way  back  to  the  diggings. 

They  both  decided  it  was  worth  the  try — success  at  a  bound 
rather  than  years  of  common  toil.  Berry  declared  he  knew 
exactly  where  he  could  find  a  fortune.  Mrs.  Berry  convinced 
him  that  she  would  be  worth  more  to  him  in  his  venture  than 
any  man  that  ever  lived.  Furthermore,  the  trip  would  be  a 
bridal  tour  which  would  certainly  be  new  and  far  from  the 
beaten  tracks  of  sighing  lovers, 

A  Remarkable  Bridal  Trip. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Berry  reached  Juneau  fifteen  months  ago.  They 
had  but  little  capital,  but  they  had  two  hearts  that  were  full  of 
determination.  They  took  the  boat  to  Dyea,  the  head  of  navi- 
gation. The  rest  of  the  distance — and  distances  in  Alaska  are 
long — was  made  behind  a  team  of  dogs.  They  slept  under  a 
tent  on  beds  of  boughs. 

Mrs.  Berry  wore  garments  which  resembled  very  much  those 
of  her  husband.  They  came  over  her  feet  like  old-fashioned 
sandals,  and  did  not  stop  at  her  knees.  They  were  made  of  seal 
fur,  with  the  fur  inside.  She  pulled  gum  boots  over  these. 
Her  skirts  were  very  short.  Her  feet  were  in  moccasins,  anu 
over  her  shoulders  was  a  fur  robe.  The  hood  was  of  bearskin. 
This  all  made  a  very  heavy  garment,  but  she  heroically  trudged 
along  with  her  husband,  averaging  about  fifteen  miles  each  day. 
They  reached  Forty-Mile  Creek  a  year  ago  in  June,  three  months 
after  they  were  married.     They  called  it  their  wedding  trip. 

Berry  built  for  his  bride  a  log  house,  leaving  simply  holes  for 
doors  and  windows.  The  thermometer  was  then  getting  to  from 
forty  to  fifty  below  zero. 

Mrs,  Berry  trudged  through  the  nineteen  miles  of  hard  snow 


238  WOMEN   AT  THE    MINES. 

and  took  her  place  in  the  hut  with  her  husband.  There  was  no 
floor,  but  the  snow  bank.  It  cost  the  couple  ;$300  a  thousand  feet 
to  get  firewood  hauled,  and  there  was  but  little  chance  to  use  fuel 
save  to  thaw  out  the  moose  and  caribou  which  the  Indians 
peddled. 

The  bride  and  groom  kept  warm  by  cuddling — a  thing  some- 
what unknown  in  civilized  communities,  but  absolutely  necessary 
with  the  mercury  disappearing  in  the  bulb,  and  wood  worth  its 
weight  in  gold.  They  endured  all  the  hardships  without  com- 
plaining, since  by  this  time  they  knew  they  had  reached  the 
golden  pot  at  the  tip  of  the  rainbow. 

All  Credit   to   His  Bride. 

Berry  give-'*  all  the  credit  of  his  fortune  to  his  young  wife.  It 
was  possible  for  her  to  have  kept  him  at  home  after  the  first  trip. 
She  told  him  to  return — and  she  returned  with  him.  It  was  an 
exhibition  of  rare  courage,  but  rare  courage  fails.  The  wed- 
ding trip  lasted  about  fifteen  months.  Berry  says  it  was  worth 
51,000,000  a  month.  This  estimate  is  one  measured  in  cold 
cash — not  sentiment. 

The  new  gold  king  and  queen  made  the  first  strike  of  a  year 
ago  in  November.  They  were  working  along  Eldorado  Creek, 
a  branch  of  the  Bonanza,  which  empties  into  the  Klondike  about 
two  miles  above  Dawson  City.  Their  site  was  the  fifth  one 
above  where  the  first  discovery  had  been  made  in  this  particular 
region.  It  took  nearly  a  month  to  get  into  paying  dirt,  but 
when  the  vein  was  opened  it  was  simply  awful. 

The  first  prospect  panned  two  and  three  dollars  to  the  pan.  It 
grew  suddenly  to  twenty-five  and  fifty  dollars  to  the  pan,  and 
kept  increasing.  It  seemed  they  had  tapped  a  mint,  and  one 
day  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Berry  gathered  no  less  than  ^595  from  a  single 
pan  of  earth.     This  they  saved  in  a  sack  by  itself,  and  the  peo- 


WOMEN   AT  THE    MINES.  239 

pie  who  have  Hstened  to  the  strange  stories  of  the  young  man 
and  his  young  wife  have  no  fear  that  they  have  been  mistaken. 

Many  Catch  the  Fever. 

Thirteen  women  left  Seattle  for  Alaska  very  soon  after  the 
Klondike  fever  broke  out,  and  with  them  went  the  Rev.  Father 
Stippick,  who  had  for  years  been  stationed  at  Circle  City. 
Among  the  women  were  Mrs.  Holmer  Chase,  Miss  Pauline  Kel- 
logg, Mrs.  C.  W.  Romley,  all  of  Chicago.  They  all  declared 
they  were  going  to  the  new  Eldorado,  not  for  pleasure,  but  to 
seek  their  fortunes,  the  same  as  the  men  who  had  undertaken 
the  journey. 

One  of  the  most  striking  instances  of  good  luck  at  the  dig- 
gings in  which  the  woman  is  in  any  way  concerned,  was  that  of 
Ulry  Gaisford,  a  Tacoma  barber.  Heartbroken,  it  is  reported, 
over  a  wayward  wife,  he  fled  from  his  Tacoma  home  and  sought 
to  bury  himself  in  the  Klondike  camps.  He  arrived  there 
penniless,  and  within  eighteen  months  found  himself  the  sole 
owner  of  a  Klondike  placer,  which  is  conservatively  estimated 
as  being  worth  $1,000,000.  Within  a  few  days  after  beginning 
to  work  on  his  claim  the  barber  had  taken  out  $50,000. 

Ulry,  it  is  said,  brooked  the  conduct  of  his  wife  as  long  as  he 
could,  and  then  furnished  her  the  money,  on  her  request,  with 
which  to  secure  a  legal  separation.  This  formality  completed, 
Ulry  hied  him  to  the  wilds  of  Alaska,  where  he  and  his  com- 
panions were  shipwrecked  while  navigating  the  Pelly  River,  and 
provisions  and  clothing  were  lost.  With  absolutely  nothing  left 
but  the  clothing  on  their  backs,  almost  all  became  disheartened 
and  returned  to  civilization. 

He  pressed  on,  for  a  time  working  in  a  saw  mill  and  later 
running  a  little  barber  shop  in  Circle  City.  It  is  with  the  trifle 
he  saved  from  his  barber  shop  and  some  money  he  saved  in  a 


240  WOMEN   AT  THE    MINES. 

logging  enterprise  on  the  Yukon  that  he  filed  a  claim  on  the 
Klondike. 

Mention  was  made  above  of  Joseph  Ladue,  and  there  is  a 
pretty  romance  connected  with  his  marriage  and  good  fortune. 
Many  years  ago,  it  is  reported,  he  became  enamored  of  a  Miss 
Anna  Mason,  of  Schuyler  Falls,  and  they  soon  became  engaged 
to  be  married. 

The  parents  of  the  young  woman  objected  on  account  of 
Ladue's  lack  of  financial  resources,  and  he  went  out  to  the  Black 
Hills  during  the  mining  craze  in  that  region.  He  was  lucky  and 
struck  it  rich.  He  corresponded  with  his  sweetheart,  and  at  last 
he  thought  he  had  enough  money  to  return  and  claim  the  bride. 

Lost  a  Fortune. 

Leaving  the  mines,  he  tarried  at  Deadwood,  was  enticed  into 
a  gambling  game,  and  his  fortune  passed  into  the  pockets  of 
sharpers.  He  wrote  his  affianced  and  told  her  the  facts,  adding 
that  he  was  going  to  Alaska  to  make  another  fortune  and  hoped 
she  would  wait  for  him.  Correspondence  was  kept  up  and,  the 
young  woman  remained  constant  to  her  faithful  and  adventurous 
lover. 

When  he  visited  his  old  home  two  years  ago  he  was  already 
prosperous,  but  he  was  not  satisfied  with  his  accumulations,  and 
it  was  decided  to  postpone  the  marriage  avvhile  longer. 

He  returned  to  his  sawmill  and  trading  post  on  the  Yukon, 
and  when  the  rich  gold  discoveries  there  brought  him  wealth 
beyond  what  he  had  dreamed  of,  he  shaped  matters  as  soon  as 
possible  to  return  and  fulfill  his  long  engagement.  The  parents 
are  satisfied  with  his  worldly  prospects  at  last,  and  the  wedding 
was  celebrated  at  Schuyler  Falls  lately.  That  quiet  hamlet  was 
in  a  fev^er  of  excitement  over  the  nuptails  which  crowned  this 
romance  in  real  life. 


WOMEN  AT  THE   MINES.  241 

These  cases  are  but  a  fcw^of  the  many  which  might  be  cited 
as  illustrations  of  the  interest  women  have  taken  in  the  gold 
craze,  and  the  earnestness  and  determination  with  which  they 
have  entered  upon  their  life  of  hardship,  toil  and  often  privation. 
It  is  these  women  who  are  largely  responsible  for  the  high 
morals  observable  in  the  mining  camps  in  the  Klondike  region. 
As  said  by  Miss  Fulcomer  in  the  interview  given  above  with  her, 
the  morals  of  the  Alaskan  camps  are  in  no  sense  to  be  compared 
w^ith  those  of  the  mining  camps  of  California  in  the  days  of  the 
excitement  there.  This  in  a  measure  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
diggings  are  so  remote  and  the  journey  to  them  is  attended  with 
such  hardship  and  danger,  that  the  looser  class  are  deterred  from 
threading  the  wilderness  to  the  camps.  Thus,  only  women  of 
nerve  and  enterprise,  who  have  some  legitimate  purpose  to  sub- 
serve, have  thus  far  made  the  trip  to  the  diggings. 

If  the  gold  excitement  continues  nobody  contends  that  this 
state  of  affairs  will  last,  as  it  never  has  in  former  periods  of  min- 
ing excitement.  But  thus  far,  on  the  Klondike,  the  women  ad- 
venturers have  brought  only  romance,  good  morals,  and  comforts 
to  districts  where  they  have  been  needed. 

\Vomen  as  Promoters. 

Scores  of  women,  some  of  them  good-looking  and  of  seeming 
refinement,  have  announced  their  willingness  to  marry  anybody 
in  the  shape  of  a  miner  who  has  made  a  lucky  strike,  and  in 
evidence  of  good  faith  have  put  their  names  and  house  addresses 
on  record.  Others  want  to  visit  the  Klondike  as  cooks,  as 
nurses,  as  domestics,  in  any  capacity  so  long  as  they  can  get 
there  without  outlay  for  fare,  and  with  prospect  of  big  wages  at 
the  end  of  the  trip. 

Women  appear  also  as  promoters  of  mining  and  development 
projects.  Some  of  them  can  talk  intelligently  about  the  countn- 
16 


242  WOMEN   AT  THE    MINES. 

and  its  prospects,  and  have  a  convincing  way  of  setting  out  their 
propositions.  One,  a  Httle  keener  than  her  competitors  in  the 
hunt  for  the  dollars  of  the  public,  has  sprung  a  plan  by  which 
stock  may  be  paid  for  on  the  installment  basis  at  the  rate  of 
twenty-five  cents  a  week  a  share.  In  the  spring — most  of  these 
good  things  are  going  to  come  off  in  the  spring — experienced 
prospectors  will  be  grub-staked  and  sent  into  the  Klondike  to 
look  for  a  paying  claim.  The  company  has  nothing  as  yet  in  the 
way  of  assets  save  expectations,  but  these  are  very  big  and 
strong. 

A  midwife  advertises  for  a  partner  to  furnish  money  to  open  a 
hospital  in  Dawson  City.  "  On  an  investment  of  $5000,"  she 
says,  "  I  will  guarantee  a  yearly  income  of  ;$  50,000  sure,  with 
the  chance  of  making  double  this." 

Fictitious  Klondike  stocks,  with  the  quotations  regulated  by 
clock  mechanism,  have  made  their  appearance  in  some  of  the 
bucket  shops  frequented  by  women.  It  is  simply  the  substitu- 
tion of  Klondike  for  the  old  names  on  the  tape,  but  the  gamesters 
stake  their  money  on  the  turns  with  as  much  eagerness  as  if  the 
figures  were  wired  from  a  genuine  stock  exchange  in  Alaska, 
and  there  is  an  observable  spurt  in  the  business.  "  If  I  can  win 
$1000  here  I'm  going  to  the  real  Klondike  just  as  quick  as  I 
can,"  said  one  woman  customer  in  a  La  Salle  street  shop.  While 
she  was  speaking  a  whirl  of  the  wheel  wiped  out  her  margin,  and 
she  hustled  around  to  borrow  car  fare  to  pay  her  way  home. 

Mrs.  John  A.   Logan  Interested. 

Early  in  August,  1897,  Mrs.  John  A.  Logan  was  asked  to 
become  the  president  of  an  association  of  New  York  women 
organized  to  send  a  business  expedition  to  the  Klondike.  The 
promoters  of  the  enterprise  were  Mrs.  Eliza  P.  Connor  and  I\Irs. 
S.  W.   McDonald,  both   newspaper  workers.     The   aim   of  the 


WOMEN   AT  THE   MINES.  243 

association  was  to  send  women  to  the  Yukon.  Mrs.  Logan  was 
to  attend  to  the  work  at  the  New  York  end  of  the  line. 

A  Women's  Klondike  Syndicate  was  also  organized  about  the 
same  time  in  New  York.  Miss  Helen  Varick  Boswell  was 
president,  and  among  the  patronesses  were  Mrs.  Jennie  June 
Croly,  Laura  Weare  Walters,  Des  Moines,  la.  ;  Mrs  Sarah  E. 
Bierce,  Cleveland  ;  Mrs.  William  Creighead,  Dayton,  O. ;  and 
Mrs.  Sarah  Thompson,  Delaware,  O. 

"We  expect  to  leave  New  York  on  March  i,  1898,"  said 
Mrs.  McDonald,  one  of  the  officers,  "and  a  Pullman  sleeping 
car,  or  two  cars,  if  forty  people  join  us,  will  be  chartered  from 
New  York  to  Seattle,  and  will  be  occupied  exclusively  by  the 
members  of  the  expedition.  Three  meals  a  day  will  be  furnished 
on  the  cars  and  all  fees  and  tips  will  be  defrayed  by  the  party. 
The  distance  is  3310  miles,  and  we  will  make   it  in  seven  days. 

Details    of  the  Journey. 

"  From  Seattle  to  Sitka,  another  thousand  miles,  we  go  by 
steamer,  and  it  will  take  us  four  days.  From  Sitka  to  Klondike 
is  an  overland  route  of  700  miles.  We  will  make  a  short  stay 
at  Sitka  in  order  to  complete  the  outfit  of  the  expedition,  which 
will  be  ordered  by  telegraph  on  leaving  New  York. 

"  We  may  decide  not  to  go  over  the  Chilkat  Pass,  but  to  take 
the  Schwatka  route  instead ;  we  will  decide  that  question  at 
Sitka.  We  will  travel  by  caravans  when  we  leave  Sitka,  where 
the  vans  will  have  to  be  taken  to  pieces  and  carried  on  horseback 
over  the  pass ;  so  will  the  tools  and  provisions. 

"  On  the  other  side  of  the  pass  the  vans  will  be  refitted  and 
the  journey  continued  as  when  leaving  Sitka.  When  we  reach 
the  lakes  rafts  will  be  built  from  timber  on  the  banks  and  the 
rafts  will  float  people,  horses  and  vans  across.  For  twenty  per- 
sons there  will  be  five  vans,  each  with  four  horses,  and  three  of 


244  WOMEN   AT  THE    MINES. 

the  vans  will  be  fitted  with  portable  sleepers  to  accommodate 
seven  persons  each.  The  two  other  vans  will  be  used  for  pro- 
visions, with  sleeping  bunks  in  front.  For  those  wishing  to 
sleep  alone  tents  and  army  cots  will  be  provided." 

Romance   of   a   Seamstress. 

Mrs.  Chester  Adams,  of  Winlock,  a  small  sawmill  town  in 
Western  Washington,  has  written  a  letter  from  Dawson  City  in 
which  she  says  that  the  steamer  leaving  there  early  in  July  for 
St.  Michael's  carried  $2, 000,000  in  gold.  She  promised  her 
friends  to  write  the  truth  about  the  Klondike  stories  that  have 
been  printed  telling  of  the  great  wealth  of  the  Alaska  gold 
fields.  Her  letter  confirms  all  that  has  been  said,  and  Mrs. 
Adams  says  half  has  not  been  told. 

She  went  to  Dawson  City  with  a  view  to  making  a  few  hun- 
dred dollars  at  dressmaking.  In  the  first  three  days  she  cleared 
up  $go  with  her  needle.  She  says  she  was  the  first  woman 
in  the  diggings  that  could  fit  a  dress,  and,  while  there  are  no 
"bones  "  or  "  waist  binding  or  canvas  "  or  other  articles  about 
which  women  know  everything  and  which  go  into  a  dress,  Mrs. 
Adams  says  prices  are  kept  up,  ranging  about  as  follows  :  Five 
to  ten  dollars  for  a  plain  Mother  Hubbard,  six  dollars  to  twelve 
for  an  empress,  eight  dollars  for  a  plain  wool  skirt,  ten  dollars  to 
an  "ounce"  for  a  waist.  These  prices  are  simply  for  making 
the  goods  up,  and  Mrs.  Adams  says  she  and  her  partner  have 
more  work  than  they  can  do. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
Poet  of  the  Sierras'  Vision. 

Rushes  off  to  the  Diggings  at  the  First  Report — Mining  in  '49 — Goes  in  to 
Rough  It — Carries  His  Own  Pack,  Pick  and  Pan — Will  Hunt  for  a  Good 
Job — Coming  Back  With  Bed-rock  Facts — Contradicts  Some  Horse 
Stories — Schemes  of  the  Pioneers — Not  a  Pistol  in  the  Crowd — One  Way 
to  Get  Bear  Meat— Recalls  Other  Big  Strikes— On  Mary  Island— With 
Father  Duncan's  Flock — No  Jail  Nor  Police  at  Metlakahtia — Hay  on 
the  Klondike — None  Coming  From  Yukon — Frolic  with  Indian  Children. 

yOAQUIN  MILLER,  ''the  Poet  of  the  Sierras,"  known  so 
I  long  and  well  to  admirers  on  two  continents  by  his  nom  de 
J  phinie  that  his  real  name,  Cincinnatus  Heine,  has  become 
more  obscure  than  another  man's  "  alias,"  was  one  of  the  first 
of  the  old  California  argonauts  to  catch  the  Klondike  fever. 

As  a  youth  he  was  a  miner  in  the  rich  placer  beds  and  along 
the  gold-laden  lodes  of  the  Sierras,  and  again  in  1862  he  was  in 
the  rush  to  Salmon  River,  when  Idaho  and  Montana  were  found 
to  be  gold  fields. 

The  news  of  the  marvelous  finds  on  the  upper  Yukon  was 
more  than  he  could  stand,  and  July  26th,  little  more  than  a  week 
after  the  arrival  of  the  Portland  with  its  golden  store,  found  him 
on  board  the  steamer  City  of  Mexico,  upward  bound  for  Juneau, 
Dyea  and  the  Klondike. 

Goes    In  to  Rough   It. 

In  a  letter  to  the  Chicago  Tribune,  dated  enroute  in  the  Gulf 
of  Georgia,  the  poet  wrote  of  his  Arctic  quest  and  its  object  in 
these  words  : 

"  I  have  been  asked,  as  I  have  asked  so  many  of  our  party, 
what  equipment  I  have  for  the  route  over  to  the  mines,  and  you 
may  also  want  to  know. 

245 


246  POET   OF   THE   SIERRAS'  VISION. 

"  Briefly,  then,  I  have  twenty  pounds  of  bacon,  twelve  pounds 
of  hardtack,  half  a  pound  of  tea.  I  have  a  heavy  pair  of  blan- 
kets, the  heaviest  socks,  underclothing,  boots,  a  rubber  blanket, 
a  mackintosh,  a  pound  of  assorted  nails,  loo  feet  of  small  rope, 
a  sail,  and  an  ax.  My  pack  is  forty  pounds  all  told,  I  have  a 
pocketknife  and  an  iron  cup,  a  thermometer,  and  about  ^loo. 

"  I  hope  to  build  a  raft,  carry  my  own  pack  over  all  the  places, 
and  travel  hastily  on  ahead  and  alone.  You  see  I  have  spent 
years  alone  in  the  mountains  and  have  been  in  almost  all  the 
'  stampedes  '  for  the  last  forty  years,  and  I  know  what  I  am 
about. 

"  Of  course,  I  am  not  doing  this  for  fun,  but  for  the  informa- 
tion of  poor  men  who  mean  to  go  to  the  mines  next  spring. 
This  is  what  those  who  pay  me  to  take  this  trip  want  and  what 
I  have  promised  to  do  if  it  can  be  done  without  too  much  risk 
of  life  or  limb.  I  shall  report  exactly  all  the  desired  details  as 
I  go  along.  I  am  to  apply  for  work  at  the  first  mines  I  reach 
and  report  exactly,  work  or  not  work,  wages,  hours  of  work — 
everything,  in  fact,  that  a  man  of  small  means  needs  to  know. 

Will  Hunt  for  a  Job. 

"  If  I  make  this  trip  tnus  equipped,  find  work  and  good  wages 
and  all  that  sort  of  thing,  why,  any  other  man  who  wants  to  can 
do  it.  For  I  am  about  fifty-five  years  old  and  a  bit  lame  of  the 
leg.  Of  course  I  may  have  to  change  some  of  my  plans,  may 
join  a  party  and  go  down  in  a  boat  instead  of  on  a  raft,  and  so 
on  ;  but  I  am  going  to  ask  for  work  at  all  events,  get  it  if  I  can, 
and  do  it,  for  I  am  an  old  miner  and  can  do  almost  twice  the 
work  of  a  new  man.  Certainly  I  can  do  more  good  just  now  in 
that  way  than  by  describing  clouds,  snow  peaks  and  Polar  bears, 
although,  of  course,  I  shall  not  all  the  time  keep  my  face  to  the 
earth,  even  though  my  feet  do  cleave  solidly  to  it. 


POET   OF   THE   SIERRAS'  VISION.  247 

"After  having  got  right  down  to  the  bed-rock  of  the  cold, 
frozen  facts,  I  shall  take  the  steamer  at  Dawson  and  return 
straight  to  San  Francisco.  So  you  see  my  forty  pounds  will  be 
about  all  I  absolutely  need.  But  the  '  stayer  '  will  not  follow 
my  example  in  this.  Still,  I  am  bound  to  say  right  here  that  it 
does  not  at  this  distance  look  like  practical  common  sense 
to  waste  so  much  time  and  strength  in  getting  in  supplies  by  this 
land  route  when  they  are  bringing  thousands  of  tons  by  the 
water  route.  Howpver,  I  am  sent  out  to  tell  of  things  as  I  find 
them,  and  shall  give  plain  facts,  neither  opinions  nor  advice. 

"  More  than  all  this,  if  I  find  the  mines  limited,  either  in  area 
or  thickness,  my  first  duty  is  to  let  the  world  know.  I  shall 
write  again  when  we  get  to  Alaska,  also  again  from  the  other 
side,  or  base,  of  the  so-called  'terrible  pass.'  But  once  launched 
on  the  swift  river  and  link  of  lakes  fllowing  the  other  way,  there 
will  be  only  a  monthly  mail.  Yet,  if  we  find  anything  of  great 
importance  in  the  way  of  facts  we  will  find  some  means  of  sending 
it  back.  If  we  do  not  find  plenty  of  faint-hearted  fellows  coming 
back,  even  after  crossing  the  mountains,  it  will  not  be  in  line 
with  other  excitements  from  '49  up  to  this  hour." 

Refutes  Some  Horse  Tales. 

According  to  Miller,  the  stories  that  horses  were  not  available 
in  crossing  the  mountains  were  not  founded  on  fact,  for  he  wrote 
of  there  being  many  horses  on  the  steamer,  all  intended  for  use 
in  going  over  Chilkoot  Pass. 

The  poet  was  reminded,  by  some  of  the  stories  he  heard  at 
Seattle  and  Victoria,  of  the  men  who  discovered  the  Salmon 
River  mines  m  Idaho  in  1 862,  and  who  sent  out  runners  and 
posted  notices  to  keep  the  people  from  rushing  in  and  sharing 
the  treasure  with  the  discoverers.  "Starvation  and  intolerable 
hardship"  was    the  awsomc    argument   used    then,  but    history 


2-48  POET   OF   THE    SIERRAS'  VISION. 

recorded  that  nobody  really  starved,  though  a  number  perished 
in  the  snow. 

He  writes  in  this  vein  : 

"  It  would  seem  that  those  on  the  outside,  as  well  as  those  on 
the  '  inside '  have  been  most  willing  if  not  eager  to  keep  all  new- 
comers in  the  dark.  The  men  who  have  horses  and  all  sorts  of 
comfortable  equipment  are  those  who  live  along  here — Seattle, 
Port  Townsend,  and  so  on — and  are  more  nearly  in  touch  with 
the  inside.  Frankly  and  truly,  each  day  I  come  upon  some  sort 
of  evidence  that  those  who  know  the  most  are  playing  the  same 
old  game  that  we  of  the  Idaho  and  Montana  mines  played  a  third 
oi  a  century  ago." 

Not  a  Pistol  in  the  Crowd. 

The  poet  was  struck  by  the  wide  difference,  in  bearing  and 
dress,  between  the  gold-hunters  of  '49  and  those  of  '97.  When 
he  wrote  he  had  not  seen  a  pistol  among  the  scores  of  men 
aboard  bound  for  the  mines,  though  there  were  rifles  and  shot 
guns  in  plenty,  and  he  argued  well  from  this  for  the  figure  the 
prospectors  would  cut  when  they  got  into  the  diggings.  "A 
miner  of  to-day  looks  more  like  a  bicyclist  than  a  booted  and 
crimson  shirted  argonaut"  was  his  happy  way  of  expressing  the 
eminently  peaceful  appearance  of  his  companions. 

One  passenger  on  the  City  of  Mexico,  a  Californian,  had  an 
outfit  whose  extremes  were  a  frying  pan  and  a  gilt-edged  copy 
of  Shakespeare. 

The  poet  pricks  the  starvation  bubble  thus  neatly  : 

"  One  man  returning  from  the  mines  told  me  this  morning  that 
he  always  had  to  keep  the  bacon  up  on  a  high  pole,  and  had  to 
grease  the  pole,  for  the  bears  were  so  bad  that  they  would  tear 
the  cabin  down,  and  even  climb  the  pole  if  they  could.  Now,  it 
seems  to  me  that  while  the  bear  up  the  pole  was  eating  the  bacon 


POET   OF   THE    SIERRAS'  VISION.  249 

a  man  of  reasonable  wisdom  could  get  a  little  of  the  bear  if 
starving." 

Though  he  disclaims  any  direct  knowledge  of  the  reputed 
strikes,  the  poet  cannot  forbear  some  characteristic  observations, 
thus  : 

"  You  have  no  doubt  read  daily  of  great  strikes.  I  will  not 
add  to  the  fever  by  uttering  what  I  have  heard  all  along  the  line. 
I  am  almost  certain,  however,  that  the  mines  are  immensely  rich. 
At  the  same  time,  let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  only  a  few  millions 
have  been  brought  to  light.  True,  only  a  few  men  have  a  hand 
in  the  work  as  yet,  but  when  I  hear  it  said  on  all  sides  that  these 
are  the  richest  mines  ever  found  it  sets  me  to  looking  back.  At 
first  in  the  Idaho  mines  about  a  dozen  men  in  Baboon's  Gulch 
took  out  more  gold  and  in  less  time  than  any  dozen  or  so  in  the 
Klondike.  The  Klondike  has  given  up  only  52,000,000  or 
$3,000,000,  but  ..Alden  Gulch  yielded  more  than  $100,000,000 
from  1863  to  1873.  The  McGregor  Company  took  out  52,000,000 
in  ninety  days  from  Mount  Gulch.  They  built  a  boat  and  took 
it  down  the  river  to  St.  Louis  armed  with  Winchesters. 

"  At  the  same  time,  the  mines  are  so  different  and  the  means 
of  working  the  mines  so  difficult  that  they  never  could  be  worked 
at  all  if  not  marvelously  rich.  No  one  ever  heard  before  of  $500, 
$800,  or  $1000  to  the  pan." 

These  notions  of  a  veteran  gold-seeker  are  at  least  worth  con- 
trasting with  some  of  the  awed  ideas  of  "  tenderfeet." 

On  Mary  Island. 

From  Fort  Wrangel,  Alaska,  Miller  writes  again  to  the  Tribtme 
as  follows  : 

"  Mary  Island,  the  place  of  customs  and  the  postoffice,  lies  to 
the  left  of  this  mighty  river,  so  like  the  Columbia,  so  like  the 
Hudson,  only  ten   times   its  size   and  impressiveness,  and  right 


250  POET   OF   THE   SIERRAS'  VISION. 

before  us  lies  what  the  prospectors  who  come  and  go  with  us 
call  a  mountain  of  gold.  Men,  especially  an  ex-Federal  Judge 
who  is  with  us,  say  it  is  the  richest  piece  of  ground  in  the 
world,  and  that  the  famous  Treadwell  Mine,  with  all  its  millions, 
is  but  a  babe  in  arms  in  comparison  with  this  mountain  of 
quartz  and  gold  that  lies  right  in  our  path  as  we  push  on  from 
the  Custom  House  toward  the  gold  fields  of  the  Klondike. 

"  But  it  is  an  Indian  reservation,  and  the  Indians,  a  community 
under  the  leadership  of  a  wise  and  good  old  Scotchman,  known 
as  Father  Duncan,  are  reputed  to  be  by  far  the  best  and  most 
wise  on  the  continent,  and  so  the  Government  is  loath  to  disturb 
them.  More  than  that,  it  is  a  point  of  honor  to  keep  strict  faith 
with  them,  for  they  are  guests  of  ours." 

With    Father    Duncan's    Flock. 

Then  he  draws  a  pretty  pen  picture  of  this  peaceful  Indian 
settlement,  thus  : 

"  You  see.  Father  Duncan  had  a  difference  with  the  Canadian 
authorities  about  his  converts,  and  begged  the  United  States  for 
an  island  where  his  people  could  live  apart  from  miners  and 
travelers  with  rum,  tobacco  and  bad  ways  of  other  sorts,  and  as 
he  had  a  great  and  good  name  as  a  civilizer,  we  gave  him  the 
island.  This  was  in  the  early  eighties.  In  the  early  nineties 
gold  was  found  all  along  the  steep,  starry  new  home  of  the 
Indians  from  the  tide  wash  to  the  snow  that  caps  the  peaks. 

"  Many  efforts  and  appeals  to  dislodge  the  Indians  have  been 
made,  but  the  Indians  are  so  humble,  and  virtuous,  and  kindly 
disposed  that  they  are  pretty  safe  unless  a  very  incompetent  man 
comes  to  be  at  the  head  of  this  department  at  Washington.  A 
decision  was  rendered  only  quite  recently  entirely  favorable  to 
these  simple  savages. 

"  Their  little  city,  Metlakahtia,  is   fairer  to   see  from   afar  of? 


POET    OF   THE   SIERRAS    VISION.  251 

as  well  as  close  at  hand,  than  almost  any  ciiy  of  the  white  man's 
side ;  clean  streets,  a  church  that  is  almost  a  cathedral  in  state- 
liness,  sidewalks,  three  or  four  fire  companies,  little  houses  for 
hose  and  hook  and  ladder  companies  at  several  points  ;  in  fact, 
everything  that  the  white  man  has  except  a  jail,  policemen  and 
politicians. 

•  "  *  No,'  said  good  Father  Duncan  with  a  smile,  *  we  have  no 
need  of  either  jail  or  police.  As  for  politicians,  we  have  no  need 
of  them,  and  they,  perhaps,  have  no  need  of  us.'  " 

"  The  place  is  built  and  maintained  on  the  co-operative  plan, 
and  is  certainly  prosperous,  for  the  people  are  pefectly  content 
and  happy,  and  not  one  of  the  several  hundred  has  any  notion 
of  going  to  the  mines.  Let  us  take  note  of  their  condition 
here." 

Raising  Hay  on   Klondike. 

A  miner  who  had  spent  several  winters  in  Alaska  took  the 
raw  edge  off  the  climate  stories  to  the  poet  by  telling  him  the 
climate  at  the  Klondike  was  the  exact  counterpart  of  that  at 
Metlakahtia.     The  old  Alaskan  added  : 

"  They  raise  the  best  hay  there  I  ever  saw.  I  have  seen 
grass  as  high  as  my  head  there  in  June,  and  cattle  driven  in 
from  Juneau  to  Dawson  are  in  better  condition  when  they  arrive 
than  when  they  are  started  from  the  trail." 

Miller  said  he  followed  up  the  cattle  story  and  found  it  true. 

He  found  out  something  about  the  Chilkoot  P^ss,  also,  and  this 
is  the  way  he  puts  it : 

"And  now  for  news,  the  newest  news  about  the  dread  moun- 
tain pass,  which,  according  to  all  received  accounts,  was  to  be 
undertaken  only  at  the  peril  of  life  and  limb.  Well,  men  all 
along  here  at  the  Indian  villages  and  postoffices  where  we  find 
men  to  talk  to,  tell  me  that  the  true  news  was  not  one-quarter 
us  bad  as  published ;  that  last  winter  two   mails  were  brought 


252  POET   OF  THE   SIERRAS'  VISION. 

this  way  by  English  mail-carriers  and  three  by  American  mail 
carriers,  making  the  monthly  mail  trips   over  the  sky -scraping 
glaciers  and  impassable  pass  as  regularly  then   in  the  midwinter 
as  they  make  it  now  in  the  midsummer. 

"  More  than  this,  Mr.  White  went,  almost  a  month  ago,  to  cut 
a  trail  below  and  around  the  so-called  death  trap,  and  now  it  is 
comfortable.  It  is  three  or  four  miles  longer,  but  it  is  of  eafey 
grade  and  a  good,  safe  pack  trail  four  feet  wide. 

"The  first  five  miles  is  already  a  wagon  road,  so  you  see,  as  I 
prophecied  on  leaving  Seattle,  there  was  a  whole  lot  of  big 
stories  told  for  the  benefit  of  the  far-off  poor  man  who  was  try- 
ing to  get  to  the  mines. 

"The  nearer  we  approach  the  less  formidable  are  all  the 
obstacles  before  us.  The  walk  of  Jericho  are  already  down  and 
we  have  not  once  trumpeted. 

"Why,  if  this  keeps  on,  in  thirty  days  more  we  will  enter  the 
Klondike  country  at  Dawson  in  palace  cars." 

None  Coming  from  Yukon. 

Then,  almost  as  he  had  penned  the  cheerful  words,  there 
came  a  shock  to  him  and  all  the  other  497  souls  on  board  the 
City  of  Mexico.  Let  him  tell  it  in  his  own  graphic  way  as  he 
wrote  it  to  the  Sau  Francisco  Examiner  : 

"A  strange,  a  pathetic  scene  took  place  a  little  time  ago.  In 
the  mildness  of  all  this  stillness,  solitude,  might  and  majesty  of 
nature,  we  met  a  steamer,  the  Alki,  San  Francisco,  coming  right 
down  upon  us  out  of  the  clouds  and  snow.  She  had  come  from 
Dyea,  the  nearest  possible  point  for  ships  to  the  Mecca  of  all 
good  gold-hunting  pilgrims.  She  came  straight  on  as  if  to  take 
us  in  her  arms.  Seeing  that  there  was  news  and  good  news  for 
all,  she  lay  right  alongside.  The  great  ships  ground  their  sides 
together.    Our  eager  gold-hunters  came  on  the  decks  by  hundreds. 


POET   OF   THE   SIERRAS'  VISION.  253 

"News?     News?     What  is  the  news  from  Klondike? 

"  Not  the  ghost  of  news  from  there,  good  or  bad,  thousands 
had  gone  forward  and  down  the  great  river  Yukon,  but  not  a 
single  one  returned.  A  good  sign,  perhaps,  but  it  was  as  if 
questioning  the  dead.  And  they  were  so  few  and  so  reserved 
and  faint  of  speech  and  action,  compared  to  our  own  great  big- 
hearted  and  open-handed  men,  begging  for  news  from  the  gold 
fields,  that  it  was  as  if  we  had  landed  Charon's  ship  and  de- 
manded the  secrets  of  his  dead. 

No   Bacon    nor    Bread. 

"Only  one  bit  of  news  did  they  have  to  tell,  and  that  was 
doleful  enough ;  not  a  bit  of  bacon  or  bread  at  the  trading  posts 
ahead  of  us  ;  and  the  Klondike,  where  there  are  plenty  of  sup- 
plies at  some  price,  away  over  Juneau,  on  and  on,  hundreds  of 
miles  beyond  the  glittering  mountains  of  snow  before  us.  Men 
looked  each  other  in  the  face,  for  many  of  the  miners  in  their 
haste  to  get  forward  had  brought  no  supplies  at  all,  but  expected 
to  outfit  at  the  posts  at  the  base  of  the  mountains,  and  that  is 
why  some  will  not  sleep  to-night.  They  will  have  to  turn  back 
or  wait  for  the  traders'  ships  to  come  from  far  away. 

"  It  would  seem  that  more  men  have  gone  into  the  mines  by 
this  mountain  route  than  had  been  believed.  Yet  think  how 
many  are  coming.  We  hear  that  shijxs  by  the  score  had  been 
chartered  and  every  berth  taken  in  them  by  the  time  we  were 
setting  out.  They  will  be  along  here  the  next  week  or  the  next, 
and  likely  enough  lots  of  them,  like  some  of  our  own  boys,  will 
have  no  supplies  at  all.  But  then,  of  course,  there  can  be  no 
suffering.  There  is  plenty  in  the  loads  of  the  more  provident, 
and  these  waters  are  always  open  and  ships  go  up  and  down  all  the 
year.  It  is  not  like  finding  this  state  of  things  on  the  other  side 
of  the  mountain,  but  it  may  make  delays  for  a  number  of  bold. 


254  POET   OF   THE    SIERRAS'  VISION. 

good   men,   who  have   neither  patience   nor   money  to  spare." 
The  poet  had  a  charming  experience  with  some  Indian  chil- 
dren on  Mary  Island.     He  wrote  to  the  Examiner : 

"  I  was  walking  out  of  the  edge  of  town,  trying  to  get  a 
knowledge  of  the  place,  when  some  children  who  saw  me 
almost  up  to  my  knees  trying  to  get  some  jack-in-the-pulpit 
plumes  came  to  look  and  help  if  need  be,  perhaps.  Seeing  at 
last  what  I  wanted,  they  nimbly  came  into  the  brush  and  nettles 
and  elder  bushes  and  got  all  I  could  hold  in  my  two  hands  ;  great 
heaps  of  yellow,  fragrant  wild  plumes,  set  off  by  red  elder- 
berries. Now,  when  I  got  my  wild  flowers  well  in  hand  I  said  : 
'  Thank  you,  my  little  lady  ;  now,  what  is  your  name  ?  ' 

Five  Cents  and  Ten   Cents. 

"  She  was  about  seven  or  eight.  She  put  her  fat  little  hands 
behind  her,  and,  turning  about  a  great  deal,  her  eyes  down  to 
the  plank  walk,  where  we  now  stood,  she  was  silent.  Then  I 
said  again : 

"'What  is  your  name,  my  good  little  girl?' 

"  She  turned  about  a  great  deal  more,  with  her  eyes  held  to 
the  levels,  and  then  said  : 

"  '  Ten  cents,  ten  cents.' 

"  I  offered  her  ten  cents,  but  she  would  not  take  it.  Then  I 
offered  her  a  quarter,  but  the  little  brown  hands  were  in  hiding 
and  would  not  come  out,  coax  as  I  might.  Then  I  turned  to 
another  little  girl,  her  sister,  perhaps,  and  said  : 

"  '  What  is  your  name,  Httle  girl  ?  ' 

"  She  was  not  so  shy,  but,  lifting  her  tiny  black  eyes  to  mine 
said : 

"  '  Five  cents,  five  cents.' 

"  I  offered  her  the  quarter,  but  she  tried  to  dig  her  little  big 
toe  into  a  crack  in  the  plank,  turning  her   bushy   black   head  to 


POET   OF   THE   SIERRAS'  VISION.  255 

me,  smiled,  and  tried  to  laugh  a  little,  but  she  would  not  put  out 
her  hand.  When  the  whistle  blew  I  hastened  aboard  the 
steamer,  they  following  at  a  little  distance.  Then,  having  a 
moment  to  spare,  I  turned  and  said  again  : 

"  '  Now,  pretty,  what  is  your  name  ?  I  like  you  and  would 
like  to  tell  my  friends  about  such  a  good  little  girl.  Please, 
now,  what  is  your  name  ?  ' 

"  *  Ten  cents,  ten  cents,'  she  answered. 

"  'And  her  name  ;  what  is  your  little  sister's  name  ? ' 

"'Five  cents,  five  cents.' 

"  I  laid  some  little  bits  of  coin  on  a  stump  and  ran  away  for 
the  steamer,  and  I  reckon  I  never  will  know  whether  they 
wanted  money  or  not,  but  am  inclined  to  believe  their  names 
were  Ten  Cents  Ten  Cents  and  Five  Cents  Five  Cents." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

History  and  Purchase  of  Alaska. 

One  of  the  Happiest  Deals  Ever  Made  by  American  Statesmen — Seward's 
Glory — His  Prophecy  on  Retiring  to  Private  Life  Verified — Compara- 
tively Few  People  in  the  Territory — Story  of  the  Early  Days  of  Russian 
Occupation — The  First  Massacre — Country  Once  Offered  to  the  United 
States  for  Nothing — Appropriation  for  Money  to  Pay  for  the  Tract 
Opposed  by  Congress  Bitterly — Efforts  to  Provide  Country  with  a  Gov- 
ernment— Interior  containing  Gold  Fields  once  thought  Worthless  was 
Parceled  Out  in  Thirds  between  as  many  Nations — Recent  History. 

LITTLE  as  is   known   of  Alaska  among  the  sisterhood   of 
countries  having  a  place  in   history,  its  records  go  back 
early  into  the  Eighteenth  Century  and  are  more  replete 
with  interest  and  romance,  than  most  people  suppose. 

Its  discovery  was  due  to  Peter  the  Great's  craze  for  explora- 
tion, and  from  the  time  Vitus  Bering  sailed  by  commission  of 
the  Czar  to  find  the  fabled  land  of  Vasco  da  Gama,  to  the  days 
when  the  Klondike  fever  broke  out  in  its  intensity  and  became 
the  talk  of  the  world,  it  has  ever,  in  some  form  or  other,  had 
something  of  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  public  mind. 

The  purchase  of  this  vast  tract  by  the  United  States  was  one 
of  the  happiest  deals  our  statesmen  have  ever  negotiated.  The 
country  was  bought  from  Russia  in  1867  at  the  ridiculously  low 
figure  of  less  than  half  a  cent  an  acre.  From  the  very  outset 
the  investment  has  been  a  paying  one,  as  is  clearly  shown  by 
Dr.  Dall's  figures. 

Alaska  paid  a  net  profit  of  eight  per  cent,  on  the  purchase 
price  during  the  first  five  years  it  was  owned  by  the  United 
States.  The  government  leased  two  tiny  seal  islands,  which 
alone  paid  four  per  cent,  on  the  original  cost  of  the  entire  terri- 
tory, which  was  37,.?oo,ooo. 

256 


HISTORY   AND    PURCHASE    OF   ALASKA.  257 

In  addition  to  the  profit  returned  by  tlie  fisheries  and  the  seal 
islands  and  the  mining  of  baser  metals,  the  output  of  the  gold 
mines  before  ever  Klondike  was  thought  of,  yielded  to  the 
United  States  a  sum  far  greater  than  the  purchase  price.  As  an 
indication  of  the  profit  of  the  fisheries  it  may  be  pointed  out 
that  in  six  years,  from  1884  to  1890,  the  salmon  industry 
alone  yielded  $7,500,000. 

Few  There  to  Work. 

In  considering  these  figures  relative  to  the  profits  of  this  great 
and  virtually  unknown  country,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind,  that  it 
is  one  of  the  most  sparsely  settled  regions  in  the  world.  In 
1893  there  was  but  one  inhabitant  to  each  nineteen  square  miles. 
Thus  far  in  the  history  of  our  country  it  has  been  a  territory 
practically  without  a  government,  and  only  of  late,  since  the  gold 
fever  broke  out,  has  the  general  public  given  it  much  attention. 
A  review  of  its  history  therefore  will  be  acceptable  to  the  reader. 

It  was  in  1728  that  Vitus  Bering  discovered  the  straits  sepa- 
rating Asia  and  America,  and  it  was  in  1741  that  he  started  out 
to  find  the  fabled  land.  He  had  two  vessels  on  this  journey 
which  were  separated  in  a  storm  about  the  latitude  of  46  degrees 
north.  Bering  sailed  northeast  and  reached  Kayak  Island  on 
St.  Elias  Day,  July  17,  1741. 

There  he  saw  and  named  the  great  mountain,  touched  at  the 
Shumagins,  and  was  wrecked  on  the  Comandorski  Islands. 
There,  too,  the  commander  died.  But  the  scurvy-stricken  crew 
survived  and  reached  Kamschatka,  with  the  pelts  of  the  sea  otter 
on  whose  flesh  they  had  lived.  The  sight  of  these  furs  stimu- 
lated traders,  and  from  that  day  on  Alaska  had  something  of  an 
interest  for  the  Russians. 

Tschirikow  reached  the  coast  near  Sitka  and  sent  a  boat's 
crew  to  explore  the  bay.  The  party  spent  six  days  in  recon- 
17 


258  HISTORY    AiND    PURCHASE    OF   ALASKA. 

noitering  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  a  search  party  was  sent 
after  them.  The  natives  at  this  time  were  defiant  and  paddled 
out  to  the  ship,  and  raised  such  a  din  on  shore  as  probably  was 
never  equaled  in  the  region. 

Gregory  Shelikoff,  a  rich  Siberian  merchant,  was  practically 
the  first  to  establish  a  regular  post  in  the  country.  This  was 
done  in  1783,  on  Kadiak  Island.  A  regular  trade  was  then 
established  with  the  Russians  in  Siberia.  Baranof  pushed  his 
enterprise  also  when  he  started  it  in  May,  1799,  in  every  pos- 
sible v/ay.  He  reached  Sitka  Sound  and  built  a  stockaded  post 
three  miles  north  of  where  the  present  city  of  Sitka  stands.  An 
imperial  charter,  with  monopoly  of  the  American  possessions  for 
twenty  years,  was  also  obtained  by  Resanol,  the  son-in-law  of 
Shelikoff,  and  Baranof  now  became  the  virtual  head  of  the  Rus- 
sian-American Fur  Company,  in  which  eventually  nine  rival 
Siberian  firms  were  consolidated.  In  this  great  concern  several 
members  of  the  Imperial  family  were  stockholders. 

The   First   Massacre. 

Such  was  the  discovery  of  Alaska,  and  such  the  founding  of 
its  capital,  Sitka.  The  old  fort  at  Sitka  was  destroyed  in  1802, 
and  all,  save  a  few  Russians,  who  found  refuge  on  a  British  trading 
ship,  were  murdered.  At  the  time  of  the  calamity  Baranof  was 
absent,  but  he  returned  two  years  later,  in  the  month  of  August, 
with  800  Aleut  and  Chugach  hunters.  At  the  sight  of  Baranof 
and  his  band  the  Indians,  who  had  murdered  the  Russians,  fled, 
and,  retreating  through  the  country,  destroyed  villages  wherever 
they  came  upon  them. 

Soon  afterward,  Baranof  contemplated  building  a  fort  on  the 
Columbia,  but,  through  Resanof,  he  opened  trade  with  the 
Spanish  colonies  in  California.  Resanof,  whose  wife  had  died, 
paid  court  to  Donna  Concepcion  Argeuello,  daughter  of  the  Al- 


HISTORY   AND   PURCHASE   OF  ALASKA.  259 

cade  of  San  Francisco  Bay.  They  were  betrothed,  and  it  was 
while  on  his  way  to  St.  Petersburg  to  obtain  the  Czar's  consent 
to  their  marriage  that  Resanof  died  in  Siberia. 

It  was  about  this  time  in  the  history  of  Alaska  that  the  Fur 
King,  John  Jacob    Astor,  began  to  figure.     Baranof  was  sus 
picious  of  him  and  his  many  ships,  and  distrusted  the  New  York 
trader's  offer  of  a  permanent  alliance  of  interest. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  here  that  Baranof  was  the  first  man  to 

attempt  agriculture  in  this  barren  region.      He  established    a 

regular  agricultural  colony.     He  was  popular  among  the  natives, 

who  uniformly  called  him  "  Master,"  and  apparently  none  of  the 

Russian  governors  ofthe  country  after  him  were  quite  so  acceptable 

to  the  Indians. 

Emperor  Nicholas'  OfTer. 

American  interest  in  Alaska,  of  course,  dates  from  the  negotia- 
tions which  terminated  in  the  purchase  of  the  country.  The 
Emperor  Nicholas  always  had  a  warm  spot  in  his  heart  for  the 
American  nation,  and  in  1844  he  offered  to  the  United  States  the 
entire  Alaskan  territory  for  the  mere  cost  of  transfer,  if  President 
Polk  would  maintain  the  United  States  line  at  54  degrees  and  40 
minutes  and  thus  shut  out  England  entirely  from  frontage  on  the 
Pacific.  This  generous  offer,  however,  was  not  accepted,  owing 
to  diplomatic  considerations. 

Again,  in  1854,  the  country  was  offered  to  the  United  States, 
and  still  again  in  1859,  when  $5,000,000  was  refused.  From 
1 86 1  to  1866  surveying  parties  traversed  a  good  portion  of 
Southern  Alaska,  choosing  a  route  for  a  telegraph  line  to  Europe, 
via  Behring  Strait.  The  success,  however,  of  the  Atlantic  cable 
in  1866,  after  the  failure  in  1859,  ended  this  project,  and  the 
cable  line  to  the  west  was  abandoned. 

Then,  seeing  that  the  government  evinced  so  little  interest  in 
the  great  country  to  the  north,  about  whose  resources  there  was 


2()0  HISTORY    AM)    IHkCHASK    OF    ALASKA. 

a  great  difference  of  opinion,  a  California  commercial  syndicate 
proposed  to  lease  and  then  purchase  the  entire  country  in  1864, 
and  still  again  in  1866.  This  project  went  so  far  r.s  to  receive 
serious  consideration  at  St.  Petersburg. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Secretary  Seward  took  up  the  matter 
of  the  purchase  of  Alaska.  Seward  always  deeply  appreciated 
Russia's  tacit  alliance  in  sending  its  fleets  to  the  harbors  of  San 
Francisco  and  New  York  in  1863,  and  keeping  them  there  at 
that  critical  time,  when  France  and  England  were  on  the  point 
of  recognizing  the  Richmond  government.  This  sense  of  grati- 
tude on  the  part  of  Seward  is,  in  a  sense,  responsible  for  our 
possession  of  Alaska  and  its  priceless  gold  fields  to-da}-. 

When  the  Czar  intimated  that  he  wished  to  sell  Russian 
America  to  any  nation,  excepting  England,  Secretary  Seward 
entered  into  negotiations  with  Baron  Stoeckl  in  February,  1 867. 
The  following  March  a  treaty  of  purchase  was  sent  to  the  Senate. 
This  was  reported  on  April  9th,  was  ratified  on  May  2Sth  by  30 
yeas  to  2  nays  and  was  proclaimed  by  President  Johnson  on  June 
20,  1867. 

To  Senator  Charles  Sumner  is  due  the  honor  of  giving  the 
permanent  name  to  Alaska.  This,  as  was  shown  in  a  previous 
chapter,  is  simply  the  corruption  of  the  Indian  word  meaning 
"great  country."  But  the  natives  gave  the  name  to  Captain 
Cook,  and  Sumner  apparently  chose  the  name  from  its  connection 
with  the  explorer,  whom  he  admired. 

Honor  for  Garfield. 

It  is  also  an  interesting  fact  that  the  intention  was  to  make 
General  Garfield,  one  of  the  martyr  Presidents,  the  first  governor 
of  the  territory.  It  was  further  proposed  to  divide  the  great 
tract  purchased  into  six  territories.  All  these  schemes,  however, 
fell  through. 


HISTORY    AND    PURCHASE    OF   ALASKA.  2(U 

Immediately  upon  the  purchase  of  the  country  military  occu- 
pation was  decided  upon.  General  Lovell  H.  Rousseau,  as 
commissioner  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  and  Captains 
Pcstschouro ff  and  Koskul,  on  the  part  of  Russia,  met  at  Sitka 
on  October  i8,  1867.  Three  men-of-war,  the  Ossipec,  the  James- 
town and  the  Resaca,  and  General  Jefferson  C.  Davis  and  250 
regular  troops  were  in  waiting. 

At  half-past  three  o'clock  that  afternoon,  Maksoukoff  and  vice- 
governor  Gardisoff  and  the  commissioners  met  the  United  States 
officers  at  the  foc^t  of  the  governor's  flag-staff  The  formality  of 
transfer  was  short  and  simple.  The  men-of-war  fired  a  double 
national  salute,  as  did  also  the  land  battery.  The  Russian  flag 
was  lowered  and  the  American  flag  was  raised,  and  the  country 
which  has  proved  thus  far  such  a  source  of  wealth,  and  which 
promises  to  be  the  most  prolific  gold  bearing  region  in  the  world, 
was  American  property.  The  only  speech  recorded  as  having 
been  made  at  the  time  was  that  of  Captain  Pestschouroff,  who 
said,  as  he  advanced  and  the  Russian  flag  fell : 

"  General  Rousseau,  by  authority  of  His  Majesty,  the  Em- 
peror of  all  the  Russians,  I  transfer  to  you,  the  agent  of  the 
United  States,  all  the  territory  and  dominion  now  possessed  by 
His  Maje-sty  on  the  continent  of  America  and  in  the  adjacent 
islands,  according  to  a  treaty  made  between  those  two  powers." 

Territory  is  Accepted. 

General  Rousseau,  metaphorically  speaking,  accepted  the 
gigantic  territory,  and  his  little  son  slowly  raised  the  new  flag. 
Following  this  formal  tender  and  acceptance.  Prince  Makasoukofl 
gave  a  dinner  and  ball.  The  ships  were  dressed  in  bunting,  and 
there  was  a  display  of  pyrotechnics. 

That  day  ended  all  Russian  dominion  in  the  western  conti- 
nent, and  there  was  an  immediate  exodus  of  all  Russians  who 


262  HISTORY   AND    PURCHASE    OF   ALASKA. 

were  able  to  leave  the  country.  The  Russian  Government  soon 
offered  its  subjects  free  transportation  across  the  Pacific  to  the 
Amoor  settlements,  and  within  a  comparatively  short  time  there 
was  scarcely  a  Russian  to  be  seen  on  Alaskan  territory. 

This  transfer  of  the  country  resulted  almost  immediately  in 
an  important  change.  The  Russians  used  the  Julian  calendar, 
and  this  gave  way  to  the  Gregorian  calendar,  and  a  day  was 
dropped  from  the  Sitkan  records,  to  correct  the  difference  of 
twenty-four  hours  between  the  Russian  day,  coming  eastward 
from  Moscow,  and  our  day,  going  westward  from  Greenwich. 

Soon  after  the  American  occupation  of  the  land  scientists 
began  to  evince  an  interest  in  the  country  and,  during  the 
summer  of  1 867,  Prof.  George  Davidson  and  eight  other  eminent 
specialists  made  a  tour  of  investigation  of  southeastern  Alaska. 
It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  their  report  and  Senator  Sumner's 
speech  were  the  two  strong  arguments  Secretary  Seward  offered 
for  the  purchase  of  Alaska  in  "  Russian  America." 

Appropriation  was  Opposed. 

Despite  the  fact  that  this  valuable  tract  of  land  was  purchased 
for  half  a  cent  an  acre,  there  was  the  bitterest  opposition  to  the 
appropriation  of  $7,200,000  in  gold,  equal  to  about  $10,000,000 
in  paper  at  that  time,  to  pay  for  the  territory.  It  was  not  till 
July  14,  1868,  that  the  House  agreed  by  vote  of  98  to  49,  and 
the  draft  was  handed  to  Baron  Stoeckl. 

As  in  most  great  government  deals,  the  cry  of  corruption  was 
raised,  and  it  was  alleged  that  there  had  been  misappropriations 
and  private  gain  in  the  negotiations.  As  it  has  been  put  relative 
to  this  alleged  corruption,  there  was  a  "  winter  of  investigation 
following  a  winter  of  contest  and  ridicule." 

Connected  with  the  purchase  and  early  occupation  of  the 
countr)^  some  pleasant  reminiscences  are  recorded.     Mr.  Seward, 


HISTORY   AND    PURCHASE    OF   ALASKA.  2H3 

returning  to  the  United  States  by  way  of  Kootznahoo,  visited 
the  country  and  addressed  the  citizens  in  the  Lutheran  Church 
at  Sitka.  He  made  a  tri})  to  the  Taku  gkicier,  visited  tlie  min- 
ing camps  of  the  Stikine  River  and  Fort  Wrangel,  and,  as  he 
afterwards  expressed  himself,  was  convinced  of  the  wisdom  of 
his  course  in  purchasing  the  country  from  Russia. 

Lady  hVanklin,  too,  visited  Sitka  in  1870,  going  there  on  the 
troop-ship  Nevvbern,  and,  with  her  niece,  Miss  Cracroft,  was  the 
guest  of  the  Commandant  on  the  Kekoor.  The  following  year 
the  discover}^  of  gold  caused  excitement  to  the  garrison  life,  and 
the  army  pay  vouchers  were  sunk  in  mining  experiments  at 
Sitka.  The  efforts  then  made,  however,  were  as  profitless  as 
were  those  made  at  Juneau  ten  years  later. 

Garrison  is  Withdrawn. 

On  June  14,  1877,  the  last  garrison  of  United  States  troop.'^ 
left  Sitka,  and  the  control  of  the  militar\'  department  over 
Alaskan  affairs  came  to  an  end.  It  was  but  a  few  months  there- 
after that  the  Lidians  had  destroyed  all  the  government  property 
outside  the  stockade.  They  threatened  a  general  massacre,  and 
appeals  were  sent  to  Washington  for  protection.  This  cry  for 
help,  however,  was  unheeded. 

The  residents  at  the  stockade  were  besieged  in  the  old  fur 
warehouse.  A  last  desperate  appeal  came  from  Victoria,  and 
finally  Captain  Holmes  A' Court  hurried  to  their  relief,  without 
orders  or  instructions.  But  for  this  act  of  bravery  and  assump- 
tion of  responsibility,  it  is  probable  there  would  have  been  a 
general  massacre  of  all  the  Americans  then  living  in  Sitka. 

From  that  time  a  man-of-war  has  constantly  been  stationed  in 
southeastern  Alaska,  and  the  commanding  officers  have  virtual  1)- 
been  naval  governors  of  the  place. 

Between  the  time  of  the  transfer  of  the   country  from  Russia 


264  HISTORY   AND   PURCHASE   OF   ALASKA. 

to  the  United  States  and  of  the  passage  of  Senator  Harrison's 
bill,  May  13,  1884,  which  gave  the  nondescript  tract  a  skeleton 
of  civil  government,  thirty  bills  aiming  to  provide  some  form  of 
government  for  Alaska  were  introduced.  The  Harrison  bill 
finally  passed,  and  gave  to  the  countr>^  a  governor,  a  district 
judge,  a  marshall,  a  clerk  and  a  board  of  commissioners,  with 
right  to  enter  mineral  claims,  but  distinctly  withholding  the 
general  land  laws. 

In  1867  the  Russian  archives,  manuscript  journals,  records, 
logs  and  account  books  were  transferred  from  Sitka  to  the  State 
Department  at  Washington.  These,  with  Tikhmenieff 's  history 
of  the  colony,  are  among  the  most  interesting  relics  of  the 
country  in  our  possession. 

Some  Account  of  Sitka. 

A  word  may  here  be  said  about  Sitka,  the  capital  and  seat  of 
government  of  the  territory  of  Alaska.  It  is  situated  on  the 
west  coast  of  Baranof  Island.  It  is  described  as  the  merest 
apolog)'  for  a  town,  but  it,  of  course,  has  a  certain  importance, 
owing  to  the  fact  that  it  is  the  official  residence  of  the  governor 
and  other  officers  appointed  by  the  United  States.  Ten  years 
ago  it  had  a  population  of  about  lOOO,  of  whom  only  295  were 
whites. 

The  town  is  built  on  a  level  stretch  of  land  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Indian  River.  Its  main  street  is  named  after  Lincoln,  and 
extends  from  the  government  fort  to  the  old  Russian  sawmill 
and  the  Governor's  Walk,  which  is  a  beach  road  built  by  the 
Russians.  Fronting  the  harbor  is  a  large  parade  ground.  Con- 
spicuous among  the  buildings  is  the  so-called  castle,  which  was 
mentioned  iu  Chapter  V.  Here,  as  everywhere  in  Alaska,  the 
traveler  will  find  an  interesting  display  of  Alaskan  totem  poles. 

One  interesting  building  in  Sitka  should  not  be  passed  by  with- 


HISTORY   AiND   PURCHASE   OF   ALASKA.  265 

out  mention.  This  is  the  old  log  structure  next  to  the  Custom 
House,  occupied  by  the  Sitka  Trading  Company.  It  was  at  one 
time  the  old  fur  warehouse,  and  many  a  time  in  its  history  it  has 
held  pelts  to  the  value  of  $1,000,000. 

Following  the  transfer  of  Alaska  to  the  United  States  several 
grave  international  questions  arose.  Among  these  was  that  of 
the  international  boundary  line.  This  matter  really  runs  back 
to  quite  an  early  period.  Succeeding  the  Nookta  Convention  of 
1 790,  the  Northwest  Coast  became  what  is  termed  virgin  soil, 
open  to  free  settlement  and  trade  by  any  people.  As  a  result 
three  nations  claimed  it. 

The  Russians  asserted  ownership  as  far  down  as  the  Columbia. 
Then  they  withdrew  to  the  fifty-first  degree,  or  approximately  to 
the  north  end  of  Vancouver  Island.  The  British  Government 
laid  claim  to  the  coast  from  the  Columbia  River  to  the  fifty- 
second  degree  ;  and  the  United  States  to  everything  west  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  between  forty-two  degrees  and  fifty-four 
degrees  fort\^  minutes. 

Treaty  of  Occupation. 

Then  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  in  order  to  avoid  com- 
plications, agreed  in  18 18  to  a  joint  occupancy  of  the  region.  In 
18 19  the  United  States  bought  Florida  from  Spain,  and  with  it 
acquired  all  the  Spanish  rights  and  claims  on  the  coast  north  of 
the  forty-second  degree.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  United  States 
was  nov/  virtually  in  possession  of  the  region.  Still  the  British  fur 
traders  were  pushing  westward  from  the  interior  and  there  was 
likelihood  at  any  time  of  trouble. 

Two  years  later,  in  1821,  the  Emperor  of  Russia  took  a  hand 
in  the  matter,  and  by  his  ukase  forbade  all  foreign  vessels  from 
approaching  within  100  Italian  miles  of  his  possessions  in  the 
Pacific   Ocean.     This   brought  about  the  conventions  of  1874 


266  HISTORY   AND   PURCHASE   OF  AL'ASKA. 

and  1875  to  adjust  the  rival  claims  to  North  American  territory 
and  to  regulate  the  trade  relations.  A  treaty  was  formed  with 
the  United  States  in  1824,  and  in  1825  a  somewhat  similar 
treaty  with  Great  Britain.  Russia  then  agreed  to  54  degrees 
and  40  minutes  as  the  southern  limit  of  her  possessions, 
and  allowed  the  vessels  of  the  other  two  nations  to  trade  freely, 
V  ithout  let  or  hinderance,  for  the  period  of  ten  years. 

Interior  Thought  Worthless. 

At  that  time  the  interior,  which,  of  late,  has  given  such 
promise  as  a  gold  producing  country,  was  uninhabited,  and 
indeed  wholly  unknown,  except  to  the  fur  trader.  Its  resources 
were  not  suspected,  and  it  was  deemed  practically  worthless.  It 
was  parceled  out  in  even  thirds.  Russia  took  that  part  to  the 
northwest,  or  what  is  commonly  called  the  Yukon  region. 
England  took  the  Mackenzie  region,  and  all  the  country  between 
Hudson  Bay  and  the  Rocky  Mountains.  The  Oregon  territory, 
that  is,  all  west  of  the  Rockies  and  north  of  42  degrees  fell 
to  the  United  States. 

Four  years  later  an  agreement  was  made  between  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain,  by  which  the  occupancy  of  the  North- 
west coast  was  indefinitely  extended. 

President  Tyler,  in  his  annual  message  to  Congress  in  1843, 
declared  that  the  United  States'  rights  appertained  to  all  between 
42  degrees  and  54  degrees  40  minutes.  At  that  time  slave 
interests  were  being  negotiated  relative  to  Texas.  To  gain 
the  State  without  interference,  Calhoun  was  discussing  a 
settlement  with  the  British  Minister,  with  the  forty-ninth  parallel 
as  the  Oregon  boundary. 

The  British  Minister,  however,  rejected  the  proposition  as  his 
predecessor  had  done  in  1807,  when  Jefferson  had  made  pio- 
posals  on  practically  the  same  lines. 


HISTORY   AND    PURCHASE   OF   ALASKA.  2(M 

Then  arose  the  so-called  "  Fifty-four  Forty  "  fight.  These 
words  became  a  political  slogan,  and  Polk  was  elected  as  the 
champion  of  the  cause.  Polk  took  occasion  in  his  inaugural 
message  to  say  :  "  Our  title  to  the  country  of  Oregon  is  clear 
and  unquestionable."  and  in  his  first  message  he  reiterated  the 
statement :  "All  of  Oregon  or  none." 

"  The  boundary  question  has  been  fought  over  time  and  a^^ain 
and  it  may  be  well  in  this  connection  to  give  the  exact  words  of 
the  treaties  of  1884  and  1885,  by  which  the  Russian  possessions 
are  defined : 

"  Commencing  from  the  southernmost  point  of  the  island, 
called  Prince  of  Wales  Island,  which  point  lies  in  a  parallel  of 
54  degrees  40  minutes  north  latitude,  and  between  131  and  133 
degrees  of  west  longitude  (meridian  of  Greenwich),  the  said  line 
shall  ascend  the  channel  called  Portland  Channel,  as  far  as  the 
point  of  the  continent  where  it  strikes  56  degrees  of  north  lati- 
tude ;  from  this  last  mentioned  point  the  line  of  demarkation 
shall  follow  the  summit  of  the  mountains  situated  parallel  to  the 
coast  as  far  as  the  point  of  intersection  of  141  degrees  of  west 
longitude  (of  the  same  meridian) ;  and  finally  from  the  said 
point  of  intersection  the  said  meridian  line  of  141  degrees  in  its 
prolongation  as  far  as  the  Frozen  Ocean. 

The  Boundary  Line. 

"  With  reference  to  the  line  of  demarkation  laid  down  in  the 
preceding  article  it  is  understood  (i)  that  the  island  called  Prince 
of  Wales  Island  shall  belong  wholly  to  Russia  (now  by  this 
session  to  the  United  States).  (2)  That  whenever  the  summit 
of  the  mountains,  which  extend  in  a  direction  parallel  to  the  coats 
from  56  degrees  of  north  latitude  to  the  point  of  intersection  of 
141  degrees  of  west  longitude,  shall  prove  to  be  of  the  distance 
of  more  than  three  marine  leagues  from  the  ocean,  the  limit  be- 


268  HISTORY    AND    PURCHASE    OF   ALASKA. 

twccn  the  British  possessions  and  the  line  of  coast  which  is  to 
belong  to  Russia,  as  abave  mentioned  (that  is  to  say,  the  limit  of 
the  possessions  ceded  by  this  convention),  shall  be  formed  by  a 
line  parallel  to  the  winding  of  the  coast,  and  which  shall  never 
exceed  the  distance  of  ten  marine  leagues  therefrom. 

It  is  an  item  of  historical  interest  that,  for  the  last  twenty-eight 


KILLING    SEALS    ON    ST.    PAUL    ISLAND. 

years  of  Russian  ownership  of  Alaska,  the  thirty  mile  strip,  as  it 
was  called,  was  leased  to  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  which  paid  an 
annual  rental  for  the  territory  which  Canada  now  claims  as  her  own. 
Dr.  G.  M.  Dawson,  of  the  Dominion  Geological  Survey,  in 
1887  and  1 888  invented  a  new  map  showing  the  boundary  line 
claimed  b\'  his  government,  as  drawn  by  Major-General  R.  D. 
Cameron.  This  narrows  the  thirty-mile  strip  to  five  miles  in 
s(ime  places,  and  absorbs  it  entirely  as  part  of  British  Columbia 
in  others. 


HISTORY   AND    PURCHASE    OF   ALASKA.  269 

This  Cameron  lino  includes  all  of  Glacier  Bay,  Lynn  Canal, 
and  Taku  Inlet.  It  also  incorporates  all  of  the  Stikine  River, 
and,  ignoring  the  channel  known  as  Portland  Channel,  it  striken 
to  tide  water  at  the  head  of  Burroughs  Bay,  and  follows  Behm 
Canal  and  Clarence  Strait  to  Dixon  Entrance. 

By  this  map  Canada  lays  claim  to  a  large  strip  of  territory' 
about  which  there  has  been  the  bitterest  contention,  among  other 
spots,  the  island  which  the  United  States  used  for  a  military  post 
and  then  for  a  custom  house  for  twenty  years,  and  even  Mary 
Island,  where  the  United  States  Custom  House  now  stands. 

Claiming  all  the  Alaska  coast  up  to  56  degree  by  this  arrange- 
ment, the  late  Sir  John  Robson,  premier  of  British  Columbia, 
even  suggested  that  the  United  States  yield  up  the  small  remain- 
ing strip  of  mainland  between  56  degree  and  St.  Elias,  for  cer- 
tain concessions  in  sealing  matters. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  all  Canadian  maps  are  now  drawn  ac- 
cording to  the  Cameron  line,  and,  that  Canadians,  realizing  the 
advantages  of  possessing  this  territory,  are  loud  in  their  assertion 
of  claims  about  which  apparently  the  United  States  is  apathetic. 

Russians  Find  Gold. 

Apropos  of  the  Klondike  gold  fields  one  recalls  the  fact  that 
it  was  the  discovery  of  gold  that  awakened  the  Russians'  interest 
in  1862.  The  leasing  of  the  thirty-mile  strip  to  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company  did  away  with  the  necessity  of  precisely  marking 
a  boundary  line.  The  Russians  showed  very  little  interest  in  the 
matter  until  the  gold  discovery. 

It  was  incorporated  in  the  Russian-American  Company's  lease 
that  all  mineral  land  should  belong  to  the  Crown,  and  following 
the  report  of  the  discovery  of  gold,  the  Czar  ordered  Admiral 
Popofif  to  send  a  corvette  from  Jaoan  to  see  if  the  British  miners 
were   on    Russian   soil.     Possibly  his   Imperial   Majesty  had  in 


270  HISTORY   AND    PURCHASE    OF   ALASKA. 

mind  some  tax  similar  to  that  which  Canada  has  recently  imposed 
upon  all  the  American  miners  in  the  Klondike  regions. 

Apropos  of  the  boundary  quarrel  San  Juan  Island  nearly 
caused  a  war  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States. 
According  to  the  Oregon  Treaty  of  June  5,  1846,  both  countries 
claimed  ownership.  The  treaty  did  not  specify  whether  the 
boundary  line  should  pass  through  Canal  de  Haro  or  Rosario 
Strait.  As  a  result,  James  Douglass  and  Governor  Isaac  Stevens 
both  claimed  jurisdiction  of  the  island. 

The  matter  came  to  an  issue  in  consequence  of  petty  quarrels. 
An  American  citizen  shot  a  British  pig,  the  owner  of  which  did 
not  think  that  $100  was  an  equivalent.  Sentiment  waxed  hot 
over  the  matter.  The  sheriff  of  Whatcom  County  sold  Hudson 
Bay  Company  sheep  for  taxes.  General  Harney  dispatched 
troops  to  the  scene  of  trouble  and  established  a  military  post  on 
one  end  of  the  island  in  1859.  This  was  just  about  the  time  the 
British  and  American  Boundary  Commissioners  had  begun  their 
work  of  peaceable  settlement. 

War  Ship    on  Guard. 

A  British  war  ship  was  stationed  guard.  The  garrison  was 
increased  and  General  Scott  came  from  Washington  and  offered 
joint  occupation  until  the  boundary  line  should  be  definitely  de- 
cided. For  two  years  a  company  of  United  States  soldiers  held 
the  southern  end  of  the  island  and  an  equal  number  of  British 
blue  jackets  the  northern  point.  The  two  garrisons  had  as 
pleasant  a  time  as  the  circumstances  would  permit,  exchanging 
visits  and  entertaining  each  other  as  best  they  could. 

Then  came  the  treaty  of  Washington  in  1871.  The  Emperof 
of  Germany  as  arbitrator  decided  that  de  Haro  was  the  main 
channel  and  the  water  boundary.  In  obedience  to  this  decision, 
the   British   withdrew   in    November,    1872,  carefully   replanting 


HIS'lORV   AND    PtJRCMASE    OF   ALASKA.  271 

gardens  and  leaving  everything  as  nearly  as  possible  as  they 
found  it. 

San  Juan,  by  the  way,  is  an  important  point,  commanding  the 
straits,  and  its  thousand-feet-high  hill  makes  one  of  the  most 
effective  batteries  in  the  world.  As  might  be  expected,  the 
diplomats  who  had  the  settling  of  this  controversy  split  hairs, 
the  representatives  of  each  country  doing  their  best  to  secure 
permanent  right  to  the  important  military  point.  The  importance 
placed  upon  this  island  by  the  British  may  be  gleaned  from  these 
words  of  Lord  Russell  : 

"  San   Juan   is   a   defensive   position    in    the   hands    of  Great 

Britain.      It  is  an  aggressive  position  in  the  hands  of  the  United 

States.      The  United  States  may  fairly  be  called  upon  to  renounce 

aggression,  but  Great  Britain  can  hardly  be  expected  to  abandon 

defense." 

Mr.  Seward's   Glory. 

The  discovery  of  gold  on  the  Yukon  in  1897,  and  the  exodus 
of  people  from  the  southern  States  into  the  wilderness  to  seek 
their  fortunes,  recalls  the  words  of  Secretary  Seward,  and  con- 
fiims  their  wisdom.  A  public  dinner  was  given  him  on  retire- 
ment to  private  life,  and  in  the  course  of  the  evening  the  question 
was  asked  him  : 

"  Mr.  Seward,  what  do  you  consider  the  most  important  act. 
of  your  official  life?  " 

"  Sir,"  said  the  secretary,  without  a  moment's  hesitation,  "  I 
think  the  purchase  of  Alaska  was  by  far  the  most  important 
official  act  of  my  life.  It  will  take  two  generations,  however,  for 
the  public  to  appreciate  the  value  of  this  purchase." 

The  old  statesman  was  right.  It  has  taken  two  crenerations 
and  the  world  is  now  convinced  of  the  truth  of  Seward's  words. 
It  may  safely  be  said  that  it  was  Seward's  crowning  glory  to  add 
to  his  countrj^'s  domain  a  new  empire  of  such  vast  extent  and  of 


272  HISTORY   AND    PURCHASE    OF   ALASKA. 

such  untold  wealth.  An  empire  whose  very  name  signifies 
great  country  or  continent,  and  whose  mountains  are  supposed 
to  hold  the  mother  lode  of  the  gold  supply  of  America. 

Early  last  August  when  the  gold  fever  was  at  its  height  the 
boundary  question  naturally  came  up  again,  especially  in  Cana- 
dian circles.  R.  W.  Scott,  Secretary  of  State,  at  Ottawa,  Ontario, 
was  then  interviewed  regarding  the  statement  from  Washington, 
which  claimed  that  Great  Britain,  in  its  official  maps,  had  drawn 
the  boundary  line  on  the  Pacific  coast  so  as  to  deprive  the 
United  States  of  hundreds  of  miles  of  territory  adjoining  the 
Klondike  regions. 

He  said  he  had  gone  into  the  question  when  a  member  of  the 
Mackenzie  administration  in  1878,  and  the  point  now  raised  was 
discussed  then. 

"  The  treaty  of  St.  Petersburg  of  1825,"  said  he,  "  defines  the 
line  dividing  Russian  territor}',  now  Alaska,  from  British  by  a 
line  drawn  north  from  the  foot  of  Prince  of  Wales  Island 
through  Portland  channel  until  it  struck  the  mountains,  when 
the  method  of  delimitation  was  set  forth. 

"  The  map  will  show  that  a  line  running  north  from  the  foot 
of  Prince  of  Wales  Island  must  go  through  the  Behm  Canal, 
and  that  to  reach  Portland  Canal  the  line  would  have  to  go  east 
through  the  open  sea  a  considerable  distance  before  it  could 
reach  Portland  channel  or  canal. 

The  British  Contention. 

"  The  British  contention  as  shown  by  the  dispatches  of  George 
Canning  to  Sir  Charles  Bagot,  when  British  Ambassador  at  St. 
Petersburg,  is  that  Portland  Canal  was  to  be  in  British  territory 
and  that  the  words  '  Portland  Canal '  in  the  convention  was  a 
mistake  for  '  Behm  Canal,'  or  else  that  what  is  now  called  Port- 
land Canal  was  not  then  so  called. 


HISTORY   AND    PURCHASE   OF   ALASKA.  273 

This  is  supported  by  the  physical  impossibility  of  running  a 
line  due  north  through  Portland  Canal  from  the  foot  of  Prince 
of  Wales  Island,  so  that  Canadian  maps  show  the  boundary  line 
as  running  north  through  the  Behm  Canal.  The  difference  is 
great  in  view  of  the  discoveries  of  gold,  and  it  can  only  be 
settled  by  an  international  arbitration. 

"  The  disputed  territory  with  the  ten  marine  leagues  back 
from  the  coast  added  would  not,  however,  embrace  the  present 
gold  fields  of  the  Klondike,  which  are  clearly  in  British  territory, 
because  they  are  well  east  of  the  one  hundred  and  forty-first 
meridian,  which  is  the  recognized  boundary  to  the  north." 

Dispute  Will  Not  Down. 

The  claim  of  Great  Britain  to  a  big  share  of  Alaska  promises, 
on  account  of  the  gold  fields,  to  occupy  a  large  amount  of  pub- 
lic attention  for  years  to  come,  and  it  will  be  of  interest  to  the 
reader  to  have  the  opinion  of  Secretary  Scott,  the  Canadian 
representative  in  the  matter,  offset  by  that  of  an  American  who 
can  speak  as  one  having  authority.  The  British  claim  is 
regarded  by  American  officials  in  general  as  preposterous,  and 
it  will  likely  cause  grave  diplomatic  complications  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain. 

The  Senate,  before  which  the  boundary  question  was  brought 
as  the  outcome  of  a  treaty  negotiated  by  Secretary  Olney  and 
Sir  Julian  Pauncefote,  did  not  place  itself  on  record  in  the  matter. 
Before  a  vote  was  taken  Congress  adjourned,  so  that  the  location 
of  the  divisional  line,  which  has  been  in  dispute  since  1884,  is  no 
nearer  settlement  than  it  has  been  at  any  period  in  the  last 
thirteen  years. 

General  Duffield,  Superintendent  of  the  Coast  and  Geodetic 
Survey,  was  a  member  of  the  boundary  commission.  The  sur- 
vey authorized  b)'  it  has  until  of  late  been  deemed  official.  The 
18 


274  HISTORY   AND    PURCHASE    OF   ALASKA. 

following  statement,  therefore,  from  General  Duffielcl  is  of  value: 
"  Up  to  18S4  both  countries  were  practically  united  as  to  the 
boundary  line  from  Mount  St.  Elias  to  the  southeast.  Accord- 
ing to  the  terms  of  the  treaty  between  Russia  and  Great  Britain, 
the  United  States  in  purchasing  Alaska  in  1867  acquired  all  of 
Russia's  rights.  In  describing  the  southeastern  boundary  the 
Russian  treaty  read  : 

"  The  line  of  demarcation  between  the  possessions  of  the  high 
contracting  parties  upon  the  coast  of  the  continent  and  the  islands 
of  America  to  the  northwest  shall  be  drawn  in  the  following 
manner  :  Commencing  from  the  southernmost  point  of  the  land 
called  Prince  of  Wales  Island,  which  point  lies  in  the  parallel  of 
54  degrees  40  minutes  north  latitude  and  between  the  131st  degree 
and  the  1 33d  degree  of  west  longitude,  the  same  line  shall  ascend 
north  along  the  channel  called  Portland  Channel,  as  far  as  the 
point  of  the  continent,  w^here  it  strikes  56  degrees  of  north  latitude. 

Fixing  Landmarks. 

"  From  this  last  mentioned  point  the  line  of  demarcation  shall 
follow  the  summit  of  the  mountain  situated  parallel  to  the  coast, 
as  far  as  the  point  of  intersection  of  141  degrees  of  west  longi- 
tude of  the  same  meridian,  and  finally  from  the  said  point  of 
intersection,  the  said  meridian  line  of  1 4 1  degrees  in  its  prolongation 
as  far  as  the  frozen  ocean,  shall  form  the  limit  between  the  Rus- 
sian and  British  possessions  on  the  continent  of  America  to  the 
northwest. 

"Wherever  the  summit  of  the  mountains,  w^hich  extend  in  a 
direction  parallel  to  the  coast  from  56  degrees  north  latitude  to 
the  point  of  intersection  of  141  degrees  of  west  longitude,  shall 
prove  to  be  a  distance  of  more  than  ten  marine  leagues  from  the 
ocean,  the  limit  between  the  British  possessions  and  the  line  of 
coast  which  is  to  belong  to  Russia,  as  above  mentioned,  shall  be 


HISTORY    AND    PURCHASE    OF   ALASKA.  275 

formed  by  a  line  parallel  to  the  widening  of  the  coast  and  which 
shall  never  exceed  the  distance  of  ten  marine  leagues  therefrom. 

"On  all  maps  from  1825  down  to  1884  the  boundary  line  has 
been  shown  as  in  general  terms  parallel  to  the  winding  of  the 
coast  and  thirty-five  miles  from  it.  In  1884,  however,  an  official 
Canadian  map  showed  a  marked  deflection  in  this  line  at  its  south 
end.  Instead  of  passing  up  Portland  Channel  this  Canadian  map 
showed  the  boundary  as  passing  up  Behm  Canal,  an  arm  of  the  sea 
some  sixty  or  seventy  miles  west  of  Portland  Channel,  this  change 
having  been  made  on  the  bare  assertion  that  the  words  '  Portland 
Canal,'  as  inserted,  were  erroneous. 

By  this  change  an  area  of  American  territory,  about  equal  in 
size  to  the  State  of  Connecticut,  was  transferred  to  British  terri- 
tory. There  are  three  facts  which  go  to  show  that  this  map  was 
incorrect.  In  the  first  place,  the  British  Admiralty,  when  survey- 
ing the  northern  limit  of  the  British  Columbian  possessions  in 
1868,  one  year  after  the  cession  of  Alaska,  surveyed  Portland 
canal,  and  not  Behm  Canal,  and  thus,  by  implication,  admitted 
this  canal  to  be  the  boundary  line. 

Second,  the  region  now  claimed  by  British  Columbia  was  at 
that  time  occupied  as  a  military  post  of  the  United  States  with- 
out objection  or  protest  on  the  part  of  British  Columbia.  Third, 
Annete  Island,  in  this  region,  was,  by  Act  of  Congress  four  years 
ago,  set  apart  as  a  reservation  for  the  use  of  the  Metlektala 
Indians,  who  sought  asylum  under  the  American  flag  to  escape 
annoyances  experienced  under  the  British  flag. 

Another  Change  Made. 

"Another  change  was  made  at  Lynn  Canal,  the  northernmost 
extension  of  the  Alexander  Archipelago,  which  runs  north  oi 
Juneau,  and  is  the  land  outlet  of  the  Yukon  trade.  If  the  offi- 
cial Canadian  map  of  1884  carried  the  boundary'  line  around  the 


276  HISTORY   AND   PURCHASE   OF   ALASKA. 

head  of  this  canal  another  Canadian  map,  three  years  later,  car- 
ried the  line  across  the  head  of  the  canal  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
throw  its  headwaters  into  British  territory.  Still  later  Canadian 
maps  carry  the  line,  not  across  the  head  of  the  canal,  but  across 
near  its  mouth,  some  sixty  or  seventy  miles  south  of  the  former 
line,  in  such  a  way  as  practically  to  take  in  Juneau,  or  at  least  all 
overland  immediately  back  of  it.  And  the  very  latest  Canadian 
map,  published  at  Ottawa  within  a  few  days,  while  it  runs  no  line 
at  all  southeast  of  Alaska,  prints  the  legend  *  British  Columbia,' 
over  portions  of  the  Lynn  Canal  which  are  now  administered  by 
the  United  States." 

A  report  was  made  early  in  1897  by  United  States  surveyors 
as  to  the  boundary  line  in  dispute.      It  said  : 

Effect  of  Determinations. 

"  These  determinations  threw  the  diggings  at  the  mouth  of 
Forty-Mile  Creek  within  the  territory  of  the  United  States.  The 
whole  valley  of  Birch  Creek,  another  most  valuable  gold-pro- 
ducing part  of  the  country,  is  also  in  the  United  States.  Most 
of  the  gold  is  to  the  west  of  the  crossing  of  the  141st  meridian 
at  Forty-Mile  Creek.  If  we  produce  the  141st  meridian  on  a 
chart  the  mouth  of  Miller's  Creek,  a  tributary  of  Sixty-Mile 
Creek,  and  a  valuable  gold  region,  is  five  miles  west  in  a  direct 
line  or  seven  miles,  according  to  the  winding  of  the  stream — all 
within  the  territory  of  the  United  States.  In  substance  the  only 
places  in  the  Yukon  region  where  gold  in  quantity  has  been 
found  are,  therefore,  all  to  the  west  of  the  boundary  line  between 
Canada  and  the  United  States." 

It  can  readily  be  seen  that  the  claim  of  the  United  States  is 
directly  opposed  to  that  of  the  Canadians.  It  is  true  that  the 
arbitration  of  the  141st  meridian  was  favored  by  the  United 
States  surveyors,  but  some  of  them  were  angered  at  the  claims 


HISTORY   AND   PURCHASE   OF   ALASKA.  277 

of  the  English  in  regard  to  Lynn  Creek  and  the  whole  south- 
eastern boundary,  and  expressed  the  belief  that  the  United  States 
would  refuse  to  arbitrate  the  claims  of  this  portion  of  the  boundary. 

An  interesting  chapter  of  Alaskan  history  is  now  making,  and 
the  prospect  is  that  in  the  near  future  the  name  of  Lincoln  will 
be  given  to  a  territory  or  state  in  the  great  northwest,  as  that  of 
Washington  was  some  years  ago.  There  are  enthusiastic  advo- 
cates of  the  movement  who  think  the  proposed  territory  will 
eventually  become  a  sovereign,  if  not  the  banner  state  of  the 
Union.  Any  account  of  the  history  of  Alaska,  therefore,  should 
include  this  possibility  by  anticipation. 

Long  before  the  great  gold  discoveries  in  the  Klondike  region 
of  the  Northwest  Territory  became  known  .:  movement  was 
quietly  inaugurated  to  divide  the  great  Territory  of  Alaska.  In 
May  active  work  was  begun  and  the  project  is  now  ready  for 
public  attentioh. 

Petitions  for  division  are  now  in  circulation  in  the  interior 
along  the  Yukon  River,  and  in  all  the  mining  camps,  and  should 
reach  Washington  early  in  September.  The  name  of  Lincoln 
for  the  new  territory  met  with  a  quick  response  on  the  part  of 
the  hardy  miners,  who  are  delighted  with  the  prospect  of  a 
territorial  form  of  government  that  will  give  them  direct  govern- 
mental supervision,  land  laws  and  titles,  and  some  incentive  to 

good  citizenship. 

Recognition  of  Russia. 

When  the  purchase  was  made  it  was  construed  by  the  admin- 
istration papers  as  an  act  of  courteous  recognition  of  Russia's 
friendship  in  the  civil  war,  it  being  remembered  that  a  Russian 
fleet  of  three  vessels  appeared  in  New  York  harbor  during  the 
excitement  over  the  Trent  affair,  when  it  looked  as  if  war  with 
Great  Britain  was  certain  to  result.  It  was  said  at  the  time — 
and  is   still  maintained  in  diplomatic  circles — that  the   Russian 


278  HISTORY   AND   PURCHASE   OF  ALASKA. 

admiral  had  sealed  orders,  which  directed  him,  in  case  of  war 
between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  to  announce 
Russia's  alliance  with  America,  and  proceed  to  capture  any- 
British  vessel  possible. 

How  much  the  purchase  of  Alaska  served  as  an  expression  of 
our  gratitude  for  Russia's  assistance  at  a  critical  period  no  one 
accurately  knows.  The  "  true  inwardness  "  of  the  transaction 
was  kept  undercover  for  diplomatic  reasons,  but  it  pleased  Great 
Britain  as  much  then  as  the  developments  of  the  seal  fishing 
controversy,  and  the  uncertainty  of  the  boundary  line,  at  the 
present  date. 

In  fact,  the  "national  iceberg,"  as  it  was  termed  in  1867,  has 
been  from  the  beginning  a  torrid  source  of  unpleasantness 
between  the  two  great  nations  of  the  English  speaking  tongue. 

Early   Day    Statistics.  ^ 

When  Alaska  was  annexed  the  population  was  stated  by  the 
Russian  missionaries  at  33,426,  of  whom  but  430  were  whites. 
The  mixed  race — termed  Creoles — counted  1756,  and  were  the 
practical  leaders,  using  the  Indian  tribes  for  hunting  and  fishing. 
Fur  trade  and  the  fisheries  were  at  that  time  the  only  known 
resources.  As  early  as  1880,  however,  the  sea  otters  shipped 
represented  a  value  of  ;^6oo,ooo,  the  fur  seals  over  $  i  ,000,000, 
the  land  furs  ;$8o,ooo,  and  the  fisheries  from  512,000  to  $15,000. 

Mineral  riches  were  hinted  at  by  the  early  explorers.  In  1885 
the  Director  of  the  Mint  credited  Alaska  with  $300,000  in  gold 
$2000  in  silver,  the  chief  contributor  being  the  Alaska  mill  at 
Douglas  City.  In  1896  the  gold  product  reached  $1,948,900, 
showing  a  gain  over  1895  equal  to  $386,100.  For  1897  the 
gold  output  is  placed  by  good  judges  at  not  less  than  $10,000,- 
000,  which  is  nearly  twice  that  of  Colorado  in  1892. 

Small  lots  of  smelting  ore — from  which  some  silver  is  recov- 


HISTORY    AND    PURCHASE    OF   ALASKA.  27& 

ered — are  shipped  to  Tacoma  for  treatment,  but  the  main  pro- 
ducers are  the  large  mills  on  Douglass  Island,  equipped  with 
stamps,  concentrators,  and  modern  appliances  for  saving  gold 
values.  The  grade  of  the  quartz  mined  and  worked,  as  early  as 
1892,  showed  an  average  value  of  $2.42  per  ton.  This  material 
is  taken  from  an  immense  quarry,  which  has  none  of  the  marks 
of  a  glacial  deposit.  The  exposure  of  the  quarr>'  by  glacial 
action  is  entirely  probable. 

What  will    be   Left   to  Alaska. 

After  the  division  there  will  be  left  to  Alaska  all  of  the  terri- 
tory- along  the  Northern  Pacific  sea  coast  and  the  Aleutian 
Islands.  This  includes  all  the  agricultural  lands  in  Alaska  and 
that  part  of  the  territory  which  enjoys  a  comparatively  mild  and 
equitable  climate  on  account  of  the  well-known  influences  of  the 
Japan  current.  The  proposed  Territory  of  Lincoln  will  embraee 
within  its  boundaries  the  valleys  of  the  great  Yukon  Riv^er  and 
its  tributaries  and  the  coast  along  Behring  Sea. 

The  city  of  Weare,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tanana  River,  800 
miles  from  the  sea,  and  on  the  Yukon  River,  as  shown  on  the 
map,  will  be  named  in  the  act  as  the  seat  of  government  of  the 
new  territor}'.  Tributary  to  the  capital  on  all  sides  will  be  the 
great  placer  mining  gold  fields. 

The  influx  of  population  into  these  gold  fields  is  so  great  that 
the  residents  of  the  interior  of  the  present  Alaska,  and  all  who 
have  investments  there,  are  unanimous  in  their  demands  for  such 
recognition  from  the  Government  as  will  give  them  protection  to 
life  and  property.  The)-  are  ready  for  the  active  development  of 
a  rich,  great  country,  too  long  kept  closed. 

There  are  mines  of  gold,  copper,  coal,  iron,  silver,  and  lead 
within  the  proposed  Territory  of  Lincoln,  and  to  these  must  be 
added  the  recently  discovered  rich  oil  fields. 


280  HISTORY   AND   PURCHASE   OF   ALASKA. 

Organization  will  immediately  follow  the  territorial  creation, 
and  it  is  likely  "  the  delegate  from  Lincoln  "  will  soon  be  recog- 
nized in  Congress.  He  will  be  on  an  equal  footing  with  delegates 
from  other  territories,  and  will  have  a  voice  in  argument,  but  no 
vote  on  roll-call. 

There  is  political  significance,  too,  to  the  movement  that,  in 
the  eyes  of  many,  is  of  great  importance. 

"  The  people  of  Sitka  have  little  time  and  less  inclination  to 
ati-cnd  to  the  affairs  of  the  interior  of  Alaska,"  is  the  complaint 
that  is  most  often  heard. 

The  new  division  will  give  to  Alaska  the  coast  trade,  the  great 
quartz  mines  of  Douglas  Island,  and  all  the  land  in  the  territory 
at  present  known  to  be  adaptable  to  agricultural  purposes — in 
round  numbers  80,000  square  miles.  The  Territory  of  Lincoln 
will  comprise  500,000  square  miles  of  the  interior  and  northern 
ceast  country. 

It  is  a  reasonable  supposition  that  a  great  deal  of  wealth  will 
be  taken  out  of  these  gold  fields,  and  it  should  not  be  forgotten 
that  the  Canadians  and  their  Government  are  vigorously  extend- 
ing their  settlements  and  their  sphere  of  influence  north  and 
west  of  British  Columbia.  A  subsidy  of  ^i  1,000  a  mile  is  about 
to  be  given  to  a  railway  branching  northward  from  the  Canadian 
Pacific  for  over  200  miles,  which  is  to  be  constructed  with  a  view 
to  open  up  that  portion  of  British  Columbia  and  drawing  to  it 
from  the  interior  of  Southeastern  Alaska  whatever  trade  may 
develop  in  that  region.  The  American  Government  will  at  least 
be  careful  that  its  political  rights  and  territorial  jurisdiction  are 
carefully  guarded,  in  order  that  the  enterprise  of  its  people  may 
have  safe  opportunity  for  achievement. 


CHAPTER  TX. 
Topography. 

Country  of  Vast  Extent  and  Remarkable  Features — Like  an  Ox's  Head 
Inverted — Yukon  District  Described  as  a  Great  Moorland — Its  Archi- 
pelago a  Wonderland  of  Immense  Mountain  Peaks — Legends  of  the 
Indians  are  IManj- — Tributes  of  Visitors  to  the  Wilderness — Magnifi- 
cent Auroral  Displays — The  Reports  Brought  Back  as  to  the  Differences 
of  Temperature — Mr.  Weare  Gives  Some  Interesting  Information — 
Bitter  Cold  in  the  Region  in  Which  the  Mines  are  Located. 

AN  account  of  Alaska  naturally  includes  a  description  of  its 
topographical  features,  somewhat  more  in  detail  than 
was  given  in  the  chapter  on  the  Wonders  of  Alaska. 
As  was  there  said,  the  very  name  signifies  "  great  country  "  or 
continent.  And  it  is  a  great  countr)-,  great  in  every  way,  cover- 
ing an  area  equal  to  the  original  thirteen  States  of  the  Union, 
with  the  great  Northwest  Territor}^  added. 

Put  in  other  words,  Alaska  is  as  large  as  all  of  the  United 
States  east  of  the  Mississippi  and  north  of  Alabama,  Georgia  and 
North  Carolina,  extending  looo  miles  from  north  to  south  and 
3500  miles  from  east  to  west.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the 
shore  line  up  and  down  the  bays  and  around  the  islands,  accord- 
ing to  the  United  States  coast  survey,  measures  25,000  miles  or 
two  and  one-half  times  more  than  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coast 
lines  of  the  remaining  portions  of  the  United  States.  The  coast 
of  Alaska  alone,  if  extended  in  a  straight  line,  would  belt  the  globe. 

Beginning  at  the  north  end  of  Dixon  Inlet,  in  latitude  54 
degrees,  40  minutes,  the  coast  line  sweeps  in  a  long,  regular 
curv^e  north  and  west  to  the  entrance  of  Prince  William's  Sound, 
a  distance  of  550  miles.  From  that  point  it  extends  725  miles 
south  and  west  to  Unimak  Pass,  at  the  end  of  the  Alaska  penin- 
sula.    At  this   pass  the   chain   of  the   Aleutian   Islands  begins 

281 


282  TOPOGRAPHY. 

and  extends  1075  miles  in  a  long  curve  almost  across  the  Pacific 
Ocean  to  Asia, 

The  dividing  line  between  Asia  and  Alaska,  according  to  the 
treaty  made  with  Russia,  is  the  meridian  of  1 93  degrees  west 
longitude.  To  the  north  of  Unimak  Pass  the  coast  has  a  zig-zag 
line  as  far  as  Point  Barrow,  on  the  Arctic  Ocean.  The  general 
shape  of  Alaska  is  thus  that  of  the  head  and  horns  of  an  ox 
inverted,  the  mainland  forming  the  head  and  the  chain  of  the 
Aleutian  Islands  the  horns. 

The  surface  of  this  immense  tract  falls  naturally  into  three 
distinct  districts.  The  first  is  the  Yukon,  extending  from  the 
Alaskan  range  of  mountains  to  the  Arctic  Ocean.  The  second 
is  the  Aleutian,  which  includes  the  Alaska  Peninsula  and  all  the 
islands  west  of  the  155th  degree  of  longitude.  The  last  is  the 
Sitkan,  embracing  Southeastern  Alaska. 

A    Vast    Moorland. 

Of  the  Yukon  district,  in  which  most  of  the  gold  fields  lie, 
we  know  comparati\-eIy  little.  *  Until  the  hardy  miners  and  pros- 
pectors were  lured  into  the  mountains  and  plains  and  along  the 
river  beds  in  the  hope  of  securing  fortune,  few  ever  ventured 
into  the  region.  As  might  be  expected,  little  or  nothing  of 
scientific  value  comes  from  people  of  this  stamp.  The  prospectors 
and  miners  in  a  large  measure  have  but  a  single  purpose  and 
have  been  dependent  upon  the  natives,  who  are  familiar  with  the 
passes,  to  conduct  them  into  the  interior.  No  body  01  scientific 
men  has  thus  far  undertaken  a  thorough  exploration  of  the 
region.      Only  in  its  greater  outlines  or  details  do  we  know  it. 

The  "Coast  Pilot,"  a  publication  of  the  United  States  Coast 
Survey,  gives  a  passage  which  is. worth  transcribing,  descriptiv^e 
of  the  country  between  Norton's  Sound  and  the  Arctic  Ocean. 
It  says : 


|if;ii!i' 


283 


284  TOPOGRAPHY. 

"  It  is  a  vast  moorland  whose  level  is  only  interrupted  by- 
promontories  and  isolated  mountains,  with  numerous  lakes,  bogs 
and  peat  beds.  Wherever  drainage  exists,  the  ground  is  covered 
with  a  luxuriant  herbage  and  produces  the  rarest  as  well  as  the 
most  beautiful  plants.  The  aspect  of  some  of  these  spots  is 
very  gay.  Many  flowers  are  large,  their  colors  bright  and, 
though  white  and  yellow  predominate,  other  tints  are  not  un- 
common. Summer  sets  in  most  rapidly  in  May  and  the  landscape 
is  quickly  overspread  with  lively  green." 

The  Aleutian  district  is  for  the  most  part  of  mountainous  and 
volcanic  formation.  There  are,  however,  many  natural  prairies 
between  the  mountains  and  the  sea,  with  a  rich  soil  of  vegetable 
mould  and  clay,  and  covered  with  perennial  wild  grasses.  Speak- 
ing of  grasses  recalls  the  statement  of  Dr.  Kellogg,  botanist  of 
the  United  State  Exploring  Expedition.  Says  he  :  "  Unalaska 
abounds  in  grasses,  with  a  climate  better  adapted  for  haying  than 
the  coast  of  Oregon." 

The  Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson  says  that  in  1879  at  Fort  Wrangel 
he  cut  wild  timothy  that  would  average  five  feet  in  height,  and 
blue  grass  that  would  average  six  feet.  He  measured  one  stem 
that  reached  seven  feet  three  inches.  Prof  Muir,  State  Geologist 
of  California  at  one  time,  also  declares  that  he  never  saw  such 
rank  vegetation  outside  the  tropics. 

Some    Characteristic  Features. 

Alaska  is  remarkable  for  the  boldness  of  its  shores,  and  its 
deep  water,  numerous  channels  and  innumerable  bays  and  har- 
bors, the  great  mountainous  islands  of  Vancouver,  Queen  Char- 
lotte, Prince  of  Wales,  Wrangel,  Baranoff,  Chichagoff,  and  many 
others  forming  a  complete  breakwater,  so  that  it  is  possible  for 
the  traveler  to  have  an  ocean  voyage  of  looo  miles  or  more 
without  once  getting  out  to  sea.      Says  the  Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson  : 


TOPOGRAPHY.  285 

"  The  labyrinth  of  channels  around  and  between  the  islands, 
that  are  in  some  places  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile  wide,  and 
yet  too  deep  to  drop  anchor ;  the  mountains  rising  from  the 
water's  edge  from  looo  to  8000  feet,  and  covered  with  dense 
forests  of  evergreen  far  up  into  the  snow  that  crowns  their  sum- 
mits ;  the  frequent  track  of  the  avalanche  cutting  a  broad  road 
from  mountain  top  to  water's  edge  ;  the  beautiful  cascades,  or 
the  glaciers,  or  the  overflow  of  high  inland  lakes,  falling  over 
mountain  precipices  or  gliding  like  a  silver  ribbon  down  their 
sides  ;  the  deep  gloomy  sea  fiords,  cleaving  the  mountains  into 
the  interior  ;  the  beautiful  kaleidoscopic  vistas  opening  up  among 
the  innumerable  islands ;  mountain  tops,  domed,  peaked  and 
sculptured  by  glaciers  ;  the  glaciers  themselves,  sparkling  and 
gUstening  in  the  sunlight  dropping  down  from  the  mountain 
heights  like  some  great  swollen  river,  filled  with  drift  wood  and 
ice,  and  suddenly  arrested  in  its  flow,  all  go  to  make  up  a  scene 
of  grandeur  and  beauty  that  cannot  be  placed  upon  canvass  or 
adequately  described  in  words." 

Archipelago  is  Divided. 

This  great  archipelago  of  Alaska  is  naturally  divided  into 
three  portions,  the  southern  portion  being  in  Washington  Terri- 
tory, the  central  in  British  Columbia  and  the  northern  in  Alaska 
proper.  This  last  was  named,  in  honor  of  the  Czar  of  Russia, 
the  Alexander  Archipelago.  It  is  seventy-five  miles  from  east 
to  west  and  300  miles  from  north  to  south.  The  aggregate  area 
of  these  islands  is  14,142  square  miles. 

To  the  westward  is  Kadiak,  600  miles  distant,  with  an  area  o) 
5676  square  miles  ;  then  comes  the  Schumigan  group,  contain- 
ing 1031  square  miles;  and  then  the  Aleutian  chain  which  has 
an  area. of  6391  square  miles.  Then,  to  the  northward,  are  the 
Seal  Islands,  containing,  with  the  other  islands   in  Behring  Sea, 


286  TOPOGRAPHY. 

about  3963  square  miles.  Thus,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  total 
area  of  the  island  of  Alaska  alone  is  31,205  square  miles,  an 
extent  of  territory  equal  to  that  of  the  State  of  Maine. 

Alaska  is  also  the  home  of  great  mountain  peaks.  It  has  the 
highest  peaks  in  the  United  States.  The  coast  range  of  Cali- 
fornia and  the  rock}-  range  of  Colorado  and  Montana  trend 
together  in  Alaska  and  form  the  Alaskan  mountains.  Here,  we 
may  notice  the  fact  that  the  old  atlases  misrepresent  the  range 
.of  mountains  that  is  thus  formed.  It  does  not  continue  north- 
ward to  the  Arctic  Ocean,  as  was  supposed,  but  turns  to  the 
southwest,  extending  through  and  forming  the  Alaskan  penin- 
sula and  then  gradually  sinking  into  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Only  a 
few  of  the  highest  peaks  are  here  visible  above  the  water.  It  is 
these  peaks  that  form  the  Aleutian  chain  of  islands,  which  arf 
only  the  mountain  tops. 

Island  Mountain  Peaks. 

The  islands  of  the  Alaskan  archipelago  naturally  decrease  in 
size  and  frequency  as  the  mountain  range  sinks  deeper  and 
deeper  into  the  sea.  Unimak,  the  most  eastern  of  the  chain,  is 
noted  for  that  most  magnificent  of  volcanoes,  Shishaldia,  9000 
feet  high  ;  then  comes  Unalaska,  5691  feet  ;  after  this  Atka, 
4852  feet;  then  Kyska,  3700  feet;  and  finally  Attu,  which  is 
the  most  western  of  the  group,  and  has  an  altitude  of  only  3oS4feet. 

Alaska  has  the  highest  mountain  peaks  in  the  United  States, 
and  some  of  them  are  worthy  of  special  mention.  Mount  St. 
Elias  towers  aloft  19,500  feet;  Mount  Cook,  16,000  feet; 
Mount  Crillon,  15,900  feet;  Mount  Fairweather,  15,500  feet. 
There  are  many  others,  whose  altitudes  are  no  less  striking. 

In  Alaska,  too,  is  to  be  found  the  great  volcanic  system  of 
the  United  States.  Grewingk  enumerates  sixty-one  volcanoes. 
These  are  mainly  on  the  Alaskan  peninsula  and  the  Aleutian 


TOPOGRAPHY.  287 

Islands.  It  is  said  that  the  violence  of  the  volcanic  forces  is 
decreasing,  and  that  only  ten  of  these  volcanoes  arc  now  active. 
Mount  Edgecombe,  near  Sitka,  is  one  of  the  extinct  volcanoes. 
On  the  Naas  River,  just  across  from  southern  Alaska,  there  is 
still  to  be  seen  a  remarkable  lava  overflow  from  a  volcano  in  the 
neighborhood. 

Interesting  Indian   Legends. 

About  these  volcanoes  the  fancy  of  the  Indians  has  linked 
any  number  of  curious  legends.  To  these  children  of  the  wil- 
derness the  volcanoes  are  little  less  than  li\ing  entities  and,  natur- 
ally, reasons  for  their  activity  have  been  sought  by  the  savages 
and  have  been  expressed  in  some  terms  of  ordinary  life. 

Again,  it  is  in  Alaska  that  we  find  the  great  glacial  system  of 
the  United  States,  chief  of  which  is  the  great  Muir  glacier,  which 
has  been  described  in  Chapter  V.  One  can  hardly  go  anywhere 
along  the  coast  of  Alaska  without  finding  these  great  sleeping 
giants,  as  they  have  been  called,  debouching  slowly  into  the 
ocean.  Their  number  is  literally  legion.  Prof  John  IMuir 
describes  one  of  these  monsters  and  his  description  is  worth 
transcribing,  partly  from  Prof  Muir's  reputation  as  a  scientist 
and  the  accuracy  of  the  facts  he  marshals,  and  partly  from  the 
picturesque  language  he  uses.  The  glacier  he  visited  and 
described  particularly  was  one  near  Cape  Fanshaw.     Said  he  : 

"The  whole  front  and  brow  of  this  majestic  glacier  is  dashed 
and  sculptured  in  a  maze  of  yawning  crevasses,  and  a  bewilder- 
ing variety  of  strange  architectural  forms,  appalling  the  strongest 
nerves,  but  novel  and  beautiful  be}^ond  measure — clusters  or 
glittering,  lance-tipped  spires,  gables  and  obelisks,  bold  out- 
standing bastions  and  plain  mural  cliffs,  adorned  along  the  top 
with  fretted  cornice  battlements,  while  every  gorge  and  crevasse, 
chasm  and  hollow,  was  filled  with  light,  shimmering  and  fulsomp 
in  pale  blue  tones  of  ineffable  tenderness. 


288  TOPOGRAPHY. 

"  The  'lay  \\';i.s  warm,  and  back  on  the  broad,  waving  bosom 
of  the  ghicicr  water  streams  were  outspread  in  a  complicated 
network.  Each,  in  its  own  frictionless  channel,  cut  down 
through  the  porous,  ice-decaying  surface  into  the  quick  and 
living  blue,  and  flowed  with  the  grace  of  motion  and  with  a  ring 
and  gurgle  and  flashing  of  light  to  be  found  only  on  the  crystal 
hills  and  dales  of  a  glacier. 

Reflecting  God's   Plan. 

"  Along  the  sides  we  could  see  the  mighty  flood  grinding 
against  the  granite  with  tremendous  pressure,  rounding  the  out- 
swelling  bosses,  deepening  and  smoothing  the  retreating  hollows, 
and  shading  every  portion  of  the  mountain  walls  into  the  forms 
the)-  were  meant  to  have  when,  in  the  fullness  of  appointed  time, 
the  ice-tool  should  be  lifted  and  set  aside  by  the  sun.  Every 
feature  glowed  with  intention,  reflecting  the  earth  plans  of  God. 

"  Back  two  or  three  miles  from  the  front  the  current  is  now 
probably  about  1 200  feet  deep,  but  when  we  examined  the  walls, 
the  grooved  and  rounded  features  so  surely  glacial  showed  that 
in  the  earlier  days  of  the  ice  age  they  were  all  over-swept,  this 
glacier  having  flowed  at  a  height  of  from  3000  to  4000  feet 
above  its  present  level." 

The  rate  of  recession  of  glaciers  is  one  of  the  unsettled  ques- 
tions of  Alaska.  It  seems,  however,  that  rain  withers  and  breaks 
away  the  ice  most  rapidly.  A  close  watch  was  kept  in  July  and 
August  of  1 89 1  by  Miss  Skidmorc,  who  concluded  from  her 
observations  that  the  tide  had  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  the 
fall  of  the  ice.  On  many  warm,  clear  days  she  noticed,  when  a 
hot  sun  fell  upon  the  ice  front  for  sixteen  and  eighteen  hours 
continuously,  there  was  no  sound.  After  days  of  silence,  on 
the  contrary,  came  tremendous  displays,  one-quarter  or  one-third 
of  the  long  wall   falling  away  apparently  without   cause.     As  a 


TOPOGRAPHY.  289 

general  rule,  these  falls  occurred  in  the  middle  of  the  night  or 
at  early  daybreak. 

Attempts  have  been  made  by  photographic  evidence  to  deter- 
mine the  recession  of  the  glacier,  but  with  limited  success.  In 
this  way  it  has  been  shown  with  reasonable  sureness  that  one 
glacier,  at  least,  retreated  looo  yards  between  1886,  when 
Professor  Wright  visited  it  and  1890,  when  Professor  Reid 
visited  it.  Photographs  were  again  taken  in  1891,  which  showed 
a  recession  of  300  yards  in  a  year.  Professor  Muir  noted  a 
retreat  of  a  mile  between  his  visits  to  a  glacier  in  1 880  and  in  1 890. 

The  effect  of  this  irregular  coast  line,  with  its  setting  of  moun- 
tain peaks  and  glaciers,  is  striking.  The  surroundings  are  fasci- 
nating. The  shores  are  sentineled  by  gigantic  mountains,  on 
whose  broad  sides  recline  a  dozen  or  more  huge  glaciers — 
amongst  them  the  Davidson.  But  to  reach  the  greatest  of  these 
"  frozen  Niagaras,"  Lynn  Canal  must  be  retraced  to  appropri- 
ately-named Icy  Straits,  north  of  which  is  Glacier  Bay,  into 
whose  pellucid  waters  descend  Titantic  glaciers,  king  among 
wh;ch  is  the  Muir. 

In  matchless  beauty  and  colossal  structure  it  is  overpowering 
to  the  senses.  Here,  right  in  front,  a  wall  of  ice  nearly  two 
miles  long  and  several  hundred  feet  high,  and  rising  in  a  glitter- 
ing cliff  out  of  the  waves,  marks  the  end  of  the  Muir  Glacier, 
which  is  formed  by  the  union  of  twenty -six  tributary  glaciers, 
and  the  united  mass  of  ice  covers  1000  square  miles. 

A  Giant  Among  Peaks. 

A  little  further  to  the  north  is  the  Melaspina  Glacier,  lying 
beneath  a  grand  circle  of  snowy  peaks,  the  loftiest  of  which. 
Mount  St.  Elias,  is  18,360  feet  above  the  sea.  The  Melaspina 
Glacier  is  a  great  sea  of  ice,  formed  by  the  junction  of  many 
glaciers  descending  from  the  mountains. 
19 


290  TOPOGRAPHY. 

These  rivers  of  ice,  at  their  confluence,  spread  out  in  one  vast 
united  ice-sheet,  and  from  this  great  congealed,  constantly  mov- 
ing mass,  as  it  debouches  into  the  sea,  huge  pieces  break  from 
the  forefoot  and  with  terrific  force,  lashing  the  waters  into  great 
waves,  drop  into  the  sea,  accompanied  by  loud  reports  which 
reverberate  like  the  booming  of  heavy  artiller}'.  From  the 
summit  of  the   Muir  Glacier,  the  eye  beholds  a  frozen  world. 

In  Alaska  also,  are  to  be  found  numerous  boiling  springs, 
veritable  geysers,  from  which  the  water  bubbles  up  with  a  tem- 
perature that  is  really  surprising.  There  are  some  large  ones 
south  of  Sitka,  and  several  more  on  Perenosna  Bay,  on  ^lagat 
Island  and  at  Fort  Moller.  Boiling  springs  are  also  to  be  found 
in  numbers  on  many  of  the  islands,  and  so  hot  is  the  water  that 
gushes  from  them  that  for  ages  the  natives  have  been  accustomed 
to  boil  their  food  in  them.  In  the  crater  of  Goreloi  there  is  a 
vast  boiling  spring  eighteen  miles  in  circumference.  On  Beaver 
Island  there  is  a  lake  very  strongly  impregnate  with  nitre. 
Some  of  the  springs  are  likewise  touched  with  sulphur. 

Like  the  glaciers  and  the  volcanoes,  these  boiling  springs 
have  been  subject  for  marvel  on  the  part  of  the  Indians.  Noises 
proceed  from  them  similar  to  the  roaring  of  cannon,  and  it  is 
natural  that  the  unlettered  savages,  being  unable  to  explain  these 
mysterious  phenomena,  should  surround  them  with  a  tissue  of 
their  own  imagination  and  resort  to  legend  for  an  explanation. 

Fine  Auroral  Displays. 

As  part  of  the  natural  phenomena  of  the  countr}-,  mention 
must  be  made  of  the  magnificent  auroral  displays.  Of  these, 
Bancroft  gives  a  pretty  description.  He  describes  them  "  as 
flashing  out  in  prismatic  corruscations,  throwing  a  brilliant  arch 
from  east  to  west — now  in  variegated  oscillations,  graduating 
through  all  the  various  tints  of  blue  and  green  and  violet  and 


TOPOGIL\PHV.  291 

crimson,  darting,  flashing  or  streaming  in  yellow  columns,  up- 
ward, downward,  now  blazing  steadily,  now  in  wavy  undulations, 
sometimes  up  to  the  very  zenith,  momentarily  lightfng  up  the 
surrounding  scenerj^  but  only  to  fall  back  into  darkness." 

It  is  recorded  that  on  the  occasion  of  one  of  these  beautiful 
auroral  displays  the  air  was  so  thickly  charged  with  electricity 
that  sparks  flashed  from  the  points  of  the  soldiers'  bayonets. 

In  a  previous  chapter  mention  was  made  of  the  great  Yukon 
River,  and  it  remains  here  to  be  saiJ  chiefly  that  the  Yukon, 
while  it  is  the  greatest,  is  only  one  of  many  mighty  streams. 
Indeed,  in  Alaska  are  te  be  found  some  of  the  largest  rivers,  not 
only  of  the  United  States,  but  of  the  world.  The  Yukon  is  the 
great  artery  leading  from  the  coast  into  the  interior. 

Its  course  throughout  its  2500  miles  of  length  is  marked  by 
features  which  make  it  one  of  the  most  remarkable  water  courses 
on  the  globe.  For  the  first  1000  miles  it  varies  in  width  from  one 
to  five  miles  and  often,  owing  to  the  islands  in  its  course,  it  is 
twenty-five  miles  in  width.  It  is  navigable  for  1500  miles.  Its 
upper  waters  are  within  the  Arctic  Circle  and  along  its  banks  live 
thousands  of  people  who  know  nothing  of  its  mouth  or  of  its 
head.     To  them  it  is  simply  an  unexplored  immensity. 

Climate  Extremely  Varied. 

Among  the  other  principal  rivers  of  the  territory  are  the 
Stikine  River,  250  miles  long  ;  the  Chilkat,  the  Copper,  the  Fire, 
the  Nushergak  and  the  Kuskokuim.  This  last  is  next  in  size  to 
the  Yukon,  and  is  from  500  to  600  miles  in  length.  The  Tananeh 
is  250  miles  in  length,  and  half  a  mile  wide  at  its  mouth,  and 
has  a  very  strong  current.  Two  of  Yukon's  principal  tributaries 
are  the  Nowikakat,  1 12  miles,  and  the  Porcupine. 

The  climate  of  Alaska,  owing  to  the  vast  extent  of  the  coun- 
try, is  as  varied  as  in  the  United  States.     In  Southern  Alaska  the 


292  TOPOGRAPHY. 

temperature  is  so  mild  as  to  give  no  sugg-rstion  of  the  extreme 
rigor  of  the  north.  The  greatest  cold  recorded  on  the  Island  of 
Unalaska  during  a  period  of  five  years  was  zero.  The  average 
for  five  years  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning  was  thirty-seven 
degrees  above.  The  average  of  weather  for  seven  years  shows 
53  clear  days,  1263  half-clear  days  and  1255  cloudy  days.  This 
indicates  a  cHmate  very  similar  to  that  of  northwestern  Scotland. 
At  Sitka  the  record  is  not  very  dissimilar.  During  a  period  of 
forty-three  years  there  was  an  average  of  200  rainy  or  snowy 
days  per  year.  During  the  winter  of  1877  the  coldest  night  at 
Sitka  only  formed  ice  about  the  thickness  of  a  knife  blade.  At 
Fort  Wrangel,  which  is  at  a  distance  from  the  ocean  and  near 
snow-covered  mountains,  the  climate  is  colder  than  at  Sitka. 
And  when  one  reaches  the  regions  of  the  North,  where  the  gold 
mines  are  located,  it  is  no  uncommon  thing  to  find  the  tempera- 
ture falling  from  eighty  to  ninety  below  zero. 

Testimony  of  Travelers. 

The  mild  climate  of  Southern  Alaska  is  due  to  the  Japan  Gulf 
Stream,  which  first  strikes  the  North  American  continent  at  the 
Queen  Charlotte  Islands,  in  latitude  50  degrees  north.  At  this 
point  the  stream  divides,  one  portion  going  northward  and  west- 
ward, along  the  coast  of  Alaska,  and  the  other  southward  along 
the  coast  of  British  Columbia,  Washington  Territory,  Oregon 
and  California.  Thus  the  climate  of  the  States  just  named  is 
made  mild  and  pleasant  in  precisely  the  same  way  that  the  shores 
of  Spain,  Portugal,  France  and  England  are  made  mild  by  the 
ocean  currents  of  the  Atlantic. 

As  the  cHmate  is  one  of  the  terrors  of  the  country  in  the 
popular  estimate,  the  testimony  of  people  who  have  been  in  the 
gold  region  in  recent  years  will  be  acceptable  to  the  reader.  The 
prospector  is  willing  to  scale  mountains,  traverse  plains,  cross 


TOPOGRAPHY.  2!J3 

rivers,  shoot  rapids,  and  brave  a  thousand  perils,  but  the  thought 
of  living  in  a  country  whose  temperature  is  often  represented  as 
being  comparable  with  that  of  a  vast  refrigerator  is  appalling. 

Owing  to  the  popular  association  of  the  idea  of  extreme 
frigidity  with  the  word  Alaska,  many  people  will  doubtless  be 
surprised  to  learn  that  the  average  temperature  in  the  Klondike 
region  during  the  four  coldest  months  of  the  year  is  not  ordina- 
rily much  lower  than  20  degrees  below  zero. 

The  average  winter's  snowfall  in  that  part  of  Alaska  is  only 
about  two  feet,  whereas  on  the  coast  it  is  ten  times  that  much. 

Facts  from  Mr.  Weare. 

"  The  snowfall  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Cudahy  is  only  about 
two  feet  during  the  winter,  although  it  is  as  much  as  twenty  feet 
along  the  coast  where  the  influence  of  the  Japan  current  is  felt. 

"  It  is  bitterly  cold  in  Arctic  Alaska.  There  is  no  denying 
this.  Forty  degrees  below  zero  for  days  at  a  stretcli  is  not  un- 
common. But  they  have  the  same  kind  of  weather  in  Northern 
Russia,  and  one  does  not  hear  any  plaints  of  hardship  from  there. 
Peary  and  other  Arctic  explorers  have  spent  whole  winters  hun- 
dreds of  miles  nearer  to  the  pole  without  actual  suffering. 

"  In  Russia  and  other  cold  countries  the  people  prepare  for  the 
long  eight  months'  winter  by  building  tight  log  houses  in  which 
they  keep  comfortable  over  their  queer-looking  tile  stoves  which 
give  an  immense  amount  of  heat  from  a  small  bunch  of  wood. 
The  same  thing  will  have  to  be  done  in  the  Yukon  country. 
Frail  tents  are  not  suitable  shelter  in  winter. 

"  It's  too  much  like  a  man  trying  to  get  along  with  a  linen 
duster  for  a  topcoat.  If  the  prospectors  are  well  housed,  well 
clothed,  and  well  fed,  they  can  bid  defiance  to  the  cold,  and 
those  who  are  not  able  to  secure  these  three  important  items 
should  not  tempt  fate  by  making  the  trip." 


294  TOPOGRAPHY. 

The  following  is  important  as  being  exact  figures  direct  from 
the  gold  region  : 

Table  Showing  Highest  and  Lowest  Temperature  at  Fort 
Constantine,  Yukon,  Jan.  ist  to  May  31st,  1896. 

Day                   January  February               March  April                  May 

of  Month        High        Low  High        Low    High        Low  High     Low  High  Low 

I —24   —38  —20   —32  —  7   —26  II   —24  30  5 

2 —29   —46  —  5   —22  —  1.5  —16  9   —13  19.5  5 

3 —45   —55  —1 1. 5  —43   12.5  —11  19  —  3  22  5 

4 —46  —56.5  —  4  —40   17     8  23   —23  32  II 

5 —54  —61.5  —  5   — 2t   18     08  —38  50  30 

6 —50  —62.5  o  —15   13.5  —  I  6  —34  51  30 

7 —40  —61  4   —20   13.5  —30  13   —38  46  31-5 

8 —26  —54  7   —20   II   —2^  8.5  —34  58  35 

9 —17.5—28  —17   —47    8  —23  12   —31  65  28 

10 —12.5  —25  —27   —45   12.5  —20  15   —31  61  30 

II —  8  — 23  — 45   — 61   23   —  I  21   — 21  60  30 

12 —  9  —25  —40   —62   34     2  20  —23  53  35 

13 -14-5  —32  —46  —56   23     o  16  —26  56  30 

14 —27  —41  —33   —56   35     7  16   —26  55  29 

15 —31   —42  —35-5  —55   39     6  21     i  56  38 

16 —26.5  —36  —34  —50   31    10  39    20  55  33 

17 —22   —42  —32   —47   39    19  45    31  54  3° 

iS —20   —39  —26.5  —56   34     2  48    30  59  28 

19 —15   —26  —16   —53   34    10  38    14  62.5  40.5 

20 —16.5  —42  4   —20   33    14  33  ^   20  55  37 

21 —21   —54  17.5    I   15   —35  40  '   17  47  33-5 

22 —45   —58  24.5   10   13   —20  16  —  5  54.5  24 

23 —45   — 6r  21   —15   20  —  5  28.5    5  59.5  32 

24 —48  —60  25   —22   21     3  34    19  65  33 

25 —48  —56  —  3   —15   28.5   II  43    29  58  35.5 

26 —49  —64  1-5  —35   27    10  42    22  58  39 

27 —57   —65  —10  —41   24   —29  32.5    6  61.5  35 

28 —44  —59  —18.5  —41   21   —10  29    12  58.5  33 

29 —18  —55  —10  —33   20     5  22   —  8  55  26 

30 —13   —42   9  —  5  39    19  63  28 

31 —  8  —27   7   —17  ....  60  30 

Means  ....  —30  — 46  —12  — 35   20  —  5  25   —  4  53  28 

Mn.  tem.  Mth.— 38  23.5        7.5  10.5  40.5 


CHAPTER   X. 
Flora,   Fauna  and  Climate. 

Agricultural  Industries  in  Alaska — Vegetables  and  Small  Fruits  in  the 
Southeastern  Portion — Grasses  and  Fodder — Panorama  of  Blossoms  in 
the  Short  Summer — Seasons  in  the  Yukon  Basin — Sea  Otters  and  Fur 
Seals — Food  Animals  and  Carnivorse — Moose  and  Caribou — Value  of 
Pelts — Fish  of  the  Territory — Salmon  Canning  and  Salting — A  Dog 
Fish  Story — Birds  of  Alaska — Among  the  Cetaceans — Mosquitos  and 
Gnats — Weather  Bureau  Report — Temperature  at  Klondike — Animals 
and  Vegetation  in  British  Columbia. 

ALASKA,  bisected  by  the  Arctic  Circle,  bounded  by  a  vast 
coast  line  and  culminating  in  the  loftiest  peak  of  the 
Rocky  Mountain  system,  possesses  a  climate  of  remark- 
able variations  and  possibilities.  From  pleasant  Sitka  to  ice- 
locked  Barrow,  from  sea-girt  Baranoff  to  the  Alpine  crest  of  St. 
Elias,  from  the  Torrid  summers  to  the  hyperborean  winters  of 
the  great  Yukon  basin,  almost  every  extra-tropical  range  of  tem- 
perature may  be  noted  and  almost  every  kind  of  meteorological 
condition  experienced. 

The  effect  of  these  wide  climatic  ranges  is  manifest  in  the 
fauna  and  flora  of  the  territory.  The  former  corresponds  quite 
closely  to  the  sub-arctic  type  ;  the  latter  presents  a  variety  of 
brilliance  and  sobriety  at  once  delightful  and  astonishing.  The 
animals  belong  largely  to  the  fur-bearing  species,  though  natives 
of  more  temperate  regions  survive  and  ^ven  thrive  with  proper 
care,  but  vegetation  ranges  with  charming  prodigality  from  the 
luscious  fruits  and  vegetables  of  the  Southland  to  the  frost'defy-r 
ing  firs  and  spruces  of  the  extreme  north.  Agriculture  may 
never  be  a  leading  industry  of  the  territory  for  the  season  is  too. 
short  and  crops  are  too  uncertain   of  maturity.     Yet  below  the 

295 


296  FLORA,    FAUNA   AND    CLIMATE. 

Arctic  Circle  it  is  easy  to  grow  enough  for  food,  and  even  farther 
north  herbs  and  vegetables  of  quick  growth  make  a  rapid  and 
even  rank  response  during  the  short,  hot  summer. 

Alaska,  superficially,  is  either  mountain,  plain  or  archipelago. 
The  country  between  Norton  Sound  and  the  Arctic  Ocean  is  a 
vast  moorland  with  numerous  bogs  and  peat  beds.  The  Yukon 
basin  is  a  broad,  alluvial  plain  with  a  rich  soil  of  unknown  depth. 
The,  islands  and  the  adjacent  coasts  are  generally  rocky,  but  not 
sterile.  Magnificent  timber  abounds  in  the  uplands  and  along 
the  lower  coasts  and  summer  from  the  Arctic  Circle  south  is  a 
jubilee  of  luxuriant  herbage  and  beautiful  plants  and  flowers. 

In  the  Southeast. 

In  the  southeastern  portion  of  the  territory  nearly  all  the 
vegetables,  herbs,  grasses  and  smaller  fruits  of  the  middle  tem- 
perate zone  flourish  without  stint  or  extra  care.  Potatoes,  car- 
rots, beets,  parsnips,  radishes,  lettuce  and  turnips  grow  large  and 
sweet.  Cabbages  weighing  seven  pounds  are  on  record  and  aU 
"  garden  truck,"  in  fact,  except  cucumbers  and  beans,  does  well. 
The  best  arable  land  in  the  territory  is  in  this  region,  and  in 
several  districts  agriculture  is  carried  on  with  considerable  suc- 
cess on  a  fairly  extensive  scale.  Timothy,  blue-joint,  wood- 
meadow,  marsh  and  the  Kentucky  blue-grass  raise  rank  crops, 
and  clover  has  done  well  wherever  tried.  These  afford  unex- 
celled grazing  in  summer  and  the  best  of  fodder  in  the  winter 
for  stock.  Cattle  thrive  in  this  climate,  but  sheep,  despite  the 
excellent  feed,  suffer  from  the  extreme  moisture  which  rots  their 
hoofs.     There  is  a  poultry  ranch  at  Fort  Wrangel. 

This  region  is  noted  for  its  bountiful  berry  crops.  Red  and 
black  currants,  raspberries,  strawberries,  huckleberries,  Killi- 
kinick  berries,  bearberries,  dewberries,  heathberries,  mossbc-nes, 
roseberries,    salmonberries    and    cranberries    grow    abundant'y. 


FLORA,    FAUNA    AND    CLIMATE.  297 

The  Indians  gather  the  salmonberries  for  local  trade,  and  large 
quantitief  of  cranberries  arc  annually  picked  and  sent  down  the 
coast. 

The  timber  of  the  southeast  is  remarkable  for  its  size  and 
general  excellence.  The  spruce,  hemlock,  red  and  yellow  cedar, 
poplar,  alder,  willow,  birch,  larch  and  pine  abound  of  great  size 
and  general  excellence.  Nearly  all  the  barrels  for  the  salmon 
canneries  and  salteries  are  manufactured  from  the  Alaskan  spruce 
and  an  excellent  quality  of  shingles  is  also  made  from  the  same 
wood.  The  yellow  cedar,  because  of  its  peculiar  hardness  and 
lightness  is  highly  prized  by  the  Indians  for  their  paddles,  which 
in  the  peculiarly  dangerous  navigation  of  the  intricate  and  swift 
waterways,  need  to  be  of  the  best  material  to  insure  immunity 
from  serious  and  often  fatal  mishaps  afloat. 

This  yellow  cedar  is  also  a  very  beautiful  wood  when  polished, 
easy  to  work,  of  a  bright  canary  and  delightful  odor,  and  is 
esteemed  in  the  manufacture  of  furniture  and  all  sorts  of  fancy 
articles.  It  possesses  also  another  point  of  excellence  which, 
being  strictly  utilitarian,  bids  fair  some  day  to  largely  deprive  the 
arts  of  its  use.  It  is  one  of  the  few  known  woods  which  the  de- 
structive teredo  refuses  to  attack  and  hence  is  invaluable  for 
piling.  Except  for  its  expensiveness  it  would  long  ago  have 
run   the  Oregon  pine  out  of  the  market  for  this  purpose. 

Making  a   Canoe. 

Out  of  these  great  cedars  the  Southern  Alaskan  natives  also 
hew  their  huge  canoes.  The  task  is  long  and  laborious,  but  the 
finished  vessel  has  been  rightly  deemed  a  work  of  boat  builders' 
art,  and,  for  the  waters  where  it  is  used,  is  unequalled.  No 
journey  in  these  canoes  seems  long  or  hazardous  enough  to 
appal  the  Indian  voyageur  ;  in  fact,  the  natives  have  been  known, 
on  their  forays,  to  paddle  in  them  as  far  as  Puget  Sound   and 


298  FLORA,    FAUNA   AND   CLIMATE. 

back  again.  To  make  a  canoe  a  large  and  perfectly  symmetrical 
log  is  chosen  and  properly  beached.  The  outside  is  shaped  with 
a  heavy  axe  and  then  the  inside  is  roughly  hollowed  out  with 
fire  and  tools.  Then  with  a  small  home-made  hand  adze  the 
boat  carpenter  goes  over  the  entire  vessel,  inside  and  out,  care- 
fully chipping  away  until  the  smooth  and  perfect  outline  has 
been  produced  throughout.  The  boat  is  then  steamed  by  filling 
it  with  water  into  which  heated  stones  are  dropped,  and  the  final 
shaping  or  "  spreading  "  is  given  by  putting  in  the  cross  braces 
while  the  wood  is  thus  pliant.  Some  of  these  single  log  canoes 
are  forty-two  feet  in  length. 

A  peculiar  feature  of  these  southeastern  forests,  noticed  by  the 
first  white  explorers,  and  for  a  time  a  scientific  puzzle,  was  found 
in  the  great  number  of  yellow  cedar  trees  standing  outwardly 
dead  and  yet  not  decaying,  but  sound  to  the  core.  It  was  finally 
ascertained  that  this  was  due  to  the  thickly  overshadowing 
branches  of  the  taller  surrounding  spruce  and  hemlock,  slowly 
smothering  the  cedars  to  death. 

Reserve  Lumber  Region. 

Alaska  is  the  great  reserve  lumber  region  of  the  United  States. 
William  H.  Seward,  returning  from  a  trip  to  Alaska,  said  in  a 
public  address  : 

"  I  venture  to  predict  that  the  North  Pacific  coast  will  become 
a  common  shipyard  for  the  American  continent  and  speedily  for 
the  whole  world.  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  and  even  the  Atlantic 
American  States  have  either  exhausted  or  are  exhausting  their 
native  supplies  of  timber  and  lumber.  Their  last  and  only 
resort  must  be  to  the  North  Pacific.  Then  the  country  will 
appreciate  these  thousands  of  square  miles  of  cedar,  spruce, 
hemlock  and  balsam  firs." 

Although  in  the   mountainous  interior  vegetation   and  fauna 


FLORA,    FAUNA    AND    CLIMATE.  299 

partake  of  Arctic  characteristics,  near  the  sea  in  the  southeast  the 
summer  is  a  season  of  delicious  sounds,  and  sweet  perfumes,  the 
voices  of  birds,  ripple  of  running  water,  and  music  of  waving 
branches  making  it  difficult  for  the  traveler  to  believe  that  he  is 
in  the  marches  of  the  Empire  of  Ice.  The  flowers  and  orchids 
are  almost  tropical  in  the  luxuriance  and  beaut}-. 

In  the  Aleutian  Islands  the  cereals  will  not  mature,  though 
numerous  and  persistent  experiments  to  that  end  have  been 
made.  Vegetation  of  speedier  growth  flourishes  in  season,  and 
the  grasses  are  especially  rank  in  growth.  The  state  of  the 
stock  industry,  however,  is  problematical.  The  timber  of  the 
islands  is  similar  to  that  of  the  mainland,  both  as  to  variety  and 
size. 

On  the  Kadiak  Islands  are  great  forests  and  vast  grassy  plains 
where  cattle  thrive  with  little  feeding  and  shelter.  Sheep  also 
do  well  here,  except  for  a  tendency  to  hoof  rot. 

Summer  in  the  Yukon. 

The  brief  summer  in  the  Yukon  Basin,  enduring  only  from  the 
middle  of  June  to  the  first  of  September,  presents  an  unending 
panorama  of  extraordinary  picturesqueness  and  beauty.  The 
banks  are  fringed  with  flowers,  carpeted  with  the  all  pervading 
moss.  Birds,  countless  in  numbers,  and  of  bewildering  variety 
of  plumage,  pipe  out  a  song  from  every  treetop.  Let  the  voy- 
ageur  pitch  his  tent  where  he  will  in  summer,  a  bunch  of  roses, 
a  clump  of  poppies,  and  a  bed  of  bluebells  will  adorn  the  camping. 

High  above  this  almost  tropical  floral  exuberance,  giant  glaciers 
sleep  in  the  summits  of  the  mountain  wall  which  rises  from  a 
bed  of  blossoms.  In  September  they  waken  and  everything  is 
changed.  The  roses  disappear  before  the  frosty  breath  from  the 
peaks,  the  birds  fly  to  the  southland,  and  mountain,  and  plain, 
hide  for  the  long  winter  beneath  a  sheet  of  snow. 


300  FLORA,    FAUNA  AND   CLIMATE. 

In  the  Yukon  basin  vegetables  of  the  hardier  sorts  do  fairly- 
well.  Turnips,  radishes  and  salad  plants  and  even  potatoes  have 
been  successfully  cultivated  at  St.  Michael's  and  at  Fort  Yukon. 

At  Fort  Selkirk,  on  the  British  side,  gardening  has  become  a 
science  and  the  results  are  pleasing  in  size  and  variety.  The 
whole  Yukon  basin  raises  fine  berries  and  grass,  but  other  crops 
are  hard  to  mature,  and  though  the  fodder  is  plenty  and  good, 
the  long  winter  precludes  success  in  stock  raising.  It  is  believed 
the  dairy  industry  would  thrive,  however. 

The  timber  of  the  Yukon  is  principally  willow,  alder,  cotton- 
wood,  spruce,  low  fir,  hemlock  and  birch.  North  of  the  basin 
the  growths  become  stunted  and  finally  disappear. 

Dr.  Jackson's  View. 

Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson,  Commissioner  of  Education,  has  given 
to  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  his  views  of  the  agricultural 
possibilities  of  Alaska  as  follows  : 

"  The  warmest  friends  of  Alaska  do  not  claim  that  it  is  rich  in 
agricultural  resources,  or  that  it  will  agriculturally  bear  com- 
parison with  the  rich  valleys  of  the  Mississippi  River  ;  but  they 
do  claim  that  while  there  are  large  areas  of  mountains  and  unpro- 
ductive land  agriculturally,  yet  there  are  valleys  and  plains 
where,  with  suitable  care,  many  of  the  earUer  vegetables,  fruits, 
and  grains  can  be  raised. 

"  On  Kadiak,  on  adjacent  islands,  and  on  the  shores  of  Cook's 
Inlet,  where  there  are  small  Russian  Creole  settlements,  they 
have  for  three-quarters  of  a  century  supplied  themselves  with 
vegetable  food  from  their  own  gardens. 

"  Not  only  in  the  mild  belt  of  Southern  Alaska,  but  also  in 
the  arctic  and  subarctic  belt  of  Northern  Alaska,  various  wild 
berries  grow  and  ripen  in  profusion  (cranberries,  currants,  rasp- 
berries, huckleberries,  blackberries,  strawberries),  and  there  is  no 


FLORA,    FAUNA   AND   CLIMATE.  301 

question  that  if  the  government  places  Alaska  on  an  equal  foot- 
ing with  the  other  States  and  Territories  in  the  establishment  of 
one  or  more  experimental  stations  it  will  be  demonstrated  that 
sufficient  vegetables  can  be  raised  for  the  consumption  of  its  peo- 
ple. And  if  there  is  found  a  section  so  far  north  that  the  profit- 
able raising  of  vegetables  and  grains  becomes  impossible,  that 
region  can  be  utilized  by  the  introduction  of  herds  of  domestic 
reindeer. 

"  Taking  Norway  and  Sweden,  where  complete  statistics  are 
to  be  had,  as  a  basis  of  calculation,  and  applying  the  same  aver- 
age to  Alaska,  it  is  found  the  country  is  capable  of  sustaining 
9,200,000  head  of  reindeer,  which  will  support  a  population  of 
287,500  living  like  the  Laps  of  Lapland. 

"The  stocking  of  Alaska  with  tame  reindeer  means  the  open- 
ing up  of  the  vast  and  almost  inaccessible  central  region  of  North- 
ern and  Central  Alaska  to  white  settlers  and  civilization  and  the 
opening  up  of  a  vast  commercial  industry.  Lapland,  with 
400,000  reindeer,  supplies  the  grocery  stores  of  Northern  Europe 
with  smoked  reindeer  hams,  smoked  tongues,  dried  and  tanned 
hides,  and  23,000  carcasses  per  annum  to  the  butcher  shops. 
On  the  same  basis,  Alaska,  with  its  capacity  of  9,200,000  head 
of  reindeer,  can  supply  the  markets  of  North  America  with 
500,000  carcasses  of  venison  annually,  together  with  tons  of  de- 
licious hams  and  tongues  and  finest  leather." 

Ball's  Statement. 

William  H.  Dall,  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  wrote  as  fal- 
lows : 

"  I  am  convinced,  after  careful  inspection,  that  Alaska  is  a  far 
better  country  than  much  of  Great  Britain  and  Norway  and  even 
part  of  Prussia.  Excepting  for  the  extreme  cold  in  midwinter  of 
the  interior,  the  Alaskan  climate  and  productions  are  not  unlike 


302  FLORA,    FAUNA   AND   CLIMATE. 

those  of  the  northwestern  part  of  Scotland  or  the  Shetlands  and 
Orkneys." 

As  the  Canadian  territory  contiguous  to  Alaska  is  at  present 
the  site  of  the  gold  craze  and  contains  many  of  the  avenues  by 
which  access  is  had  to  the  British  Klondike,  the  interest  attach- 
ing to  this  alien  region  at  the  headwaters  of  the  Yukon  warrants 
a  few  words  in  notice  of  its  flora  and  agricultural  possibilities. 

Surveyor  Ogilvie's  Report. 

William  Ogilvie,  Dominion  Land  Surveyor,  reported  on  this 
region  to  the  Canadian  Department  of  the  Interior,  as  follows  : 

"  The  agricultural  capabilities  of  the  country  along  the  river 
are  not  great,  nor  is  the  land  that  can  be  seen  from  the  river  of 
good  quality.  When  we  consider  further  the  unsuitable  climatic 
conditions  that  prevail  in  the  region,  it  may  be  said  that  as  an 
agricultural  district  this  portion  of  the  country  will  never  be  of 
any  value. 

"  My  meteorological  records  show  over  eight  degrees  of  frost 
on  August  1st,  over  ten  on  the  3d,  and  four  times  during  the 
month  the  minimum  temperature  was  below  freezing. 

"Along  the  east  side  of  Lake  Bennett,  opposite  the  Chilkoot 
or  western  arm,  there  are  some  flats  of  dry  gravelly  soil,  which 
would  make  a  few  farms  of  limited  extent.  On  the  west  side, 
around  the  mouth  of  the  Wheaton  River,  there  is  an  extensive 
flat  of  sand  and  gravel,  covered  with  small  pine  and  spruce  of 
stunted  growth. 

"  Along  the  westerly  shore  of  Tagish  Lake  there  is  a  large 
extent  of  low,  swampy  flats,  a  part  of  which  might  be  used  for 
the  production  of  such  roots  and  cereals  as  the  climate  would 
permit.  Along  the  west  side  of  Marsh  Lake  there  is  also  much 
flat  surface  of  the  same  general  character,  on  which  I  saw  some 
coarse  grass  which  would  serve  as  food  for  cattle.     Along  the 


FLORA,    FAUNA    AND    CLIMATE.  303 

east  side  the  surface  appeared  higher  and  terraced,  and  is  probably 
less  suited  to  the  requirements  of  the  agriculturist.  Along  the 
head  of  the  river,  for  some  miles  below  Marsh  Lake,  there  are 
flats  on  both  sides,  which  would,  as  far  as  surface  conformation 
goes,  serve  as  farms.  The  soil  is  of  much  better  quality  than 
any  heretofore  seen,  as  is  proven  by  the  larger  and  thicker  growth 
of  timber  and  underbrush  which  it  supports.  The  soil  bears  less 
the  character  of  detritus,  and  more  that  of  alluvium,  than  that 
seen  above. 

"Some  miles  down  the  lake  an  extensive  valley  joins  that  of 
the  lake  on  the  west  side.  This  valley  contains  a  small  stream. 
Around  this  place  there  is  some  land  that  might  be  useful,  as 
the  grass  and  vegetation  is  much  better  than  any  seen  so  far. 

"  On  the  lower  end  of  the  lake,  on  the  west  side,  there  is  also 
a  considerable  plain  which  might  be  utilized ;  the  soil  in  parts  of 
it  is  good.  I  saw  one  part  where  the  timber  had  been  burned 
some  time  ago ;  here  both  the  soil  and  vegetation  were  good, 
and  two  or  three  of  the  plants  seen  are  common  in  this  part  of 
Ontario,  but  they  had  not  the  vigorous  appearance  which  the  same 
plants  have  East. 

In    Ogilvie   Valley. 

"  Northward  from  the  end  of  the  lake  there  is  a  deep,  wide 
valley,  which  Dr.  Dawson  has  named  '  Ogilvie  Valley.'  In  this 
the  mi.xed  timber,  poplar  and  spruce,  is  of  a  size  which  betokens 
a  fair  soil ;  the  herbage,  too,  is  more  than  usually  rich  for  this 
region.  This  valley  is  extensive,  and,  if  ever  required  as  an  aid 
in  the  sustenance  of  our  people,  will  figure  largely  in  the  dis- 
trict's agricultural  assets. 

"  Below  the  lake  the  valley  of  the  river  is  not,  as  a  rule,  wide, 
and  the  banks  are  often   steep  and   high.     There  are,  however, 
many  flats  of  modern  extent  along  the  river  and  at  its  confluence- 
with  other  streams.     The  soil  of  many  of  these  is  f  .ir. 


304        FLORA,  FAUNA  AND  CLIMATE. 

"  About  forty  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  Pelly  River  there 
is  an  extensive  flat  on  both  sides  of  the  Lewis.  The  soil  here 
is  poor  and  sandy,  with  small  open  timber.  At  Pelly  River  there 
is  a  flat  of  considerable  extent  on  which  the  ruins  of  Fort  Selkirk 
stand.  It  is  covered  with  a  small  growth  of  poplar  and  a  few 
spruce.  The  soil  is  a  gravelly  loam  of  about  eight  inches  in 
depth,  the  subsoil  being  gravel,  evidently  detritus.  This  flat 
extends  up  the  river  for  some  miles,  but  is  all  covered  thickly 
with  timber,  except  a  small  piece  around  the  site  of  the  fort. 

Vegetables  for  Miners. 

"  I  think  ten  townships,  or  360  square  miles,  would  be  a  very 
liberal  estimate  of  all  the  places  mentioned  along  the  river. 
This  gives  us  230,400  acres,  or,  say,  1000  farms.  The  available 
lands  on  the  affluents  of  the  rivers  would  probably  double  this, 
or  give  2000  farms  in  that  part  of  our  territory,  but  on  most  of 
these  farms  the  returns  would  be  meager.  Without  the  dis- 
covery and  development  of  large  mineral  wealth  it  is  not  likely 
that  the  slender  agricultural  resources  of  the  country  will  ever 
attract  attention.  In  the  event  of  such  discovery,  however, 
some  of  the  land  might  be  used  for  the  production  of  vegetable 
food  for  the  miners,  but  even  in  that  case,  with  the  transport 
facilities  which  the  district  commands,  it  is  very  doubtful  if  it 
could  compete  successfully  with  the  South  and  East. 

"  The  amount  of  timber  fit  for  use  in  building  and  manufac- 
uring  in  the  district  along  the  river  is  not  at  all  important.  There 
is  a  large  extent  of  forest  which  would  yield  firewood  and  timber 
for  use  in  mines,  but  for  the  manufacture  of  lumber  there  is  very 
little. 

"  To  give  an  idea  of  its  scarceness,  I  may  state  that  two  of 
my  party  made  a  thorough  search  of  all  the  timbered  land 
around  the  head  of  Lake  Bennett,  and  down  the  lake  for  over  ten 


FLORA,    FAUNA    AND   CLIMATE.  305 

milts,  and  in  all  this  search  only  one  tree  was  found  suitable  for 
making  such  plank  as  we  required  for  the  construction  of  our 
large  boat.  This  tree  made  four  planks,  fifteen  inches  wide  at  the 
butt,  seven  at  the  top,  and  thirty-one  feet  long. 

"  Such  other  planks  as  we  wanted  had  to  be  cut  out  of  short 
logs,  of  which  some,  ten  to  fourteen  inches  in  diameter  and  ten 
to  sixteen  feet  long,  could  be  found  at  long  intervals.  The  boat 
required  only  450  feet  of  plank  for  its  construction,  yet  some  of 
the  logs  had  to  be  carried  nearly  200  yards,  and  two  saw-pits 
had  to  be  made  before  that  quantity  was  procured,  and  this  on 
ground  that  was  all  thickly  wooded  with  spruce,  pine  and  some 
balsam,  the  latter  being  generally  the  largest  and  cleanest- 
trunked. 

"  The  great  bulk  of  the  timber  in  the  district  suitable  for  manu- 
facture into  lumber  is  to  be  found  on  the  islands  in  the  river. 
On  them  the  soil  is  warmer  and  richer,  the  sun's  rays  striking 
the  surface  for  a  much  longer  time  and  more  directly  than  on 
the  banks. 

Quantity  of  Timber. 

"  To  estimate  the  quantity  of  timber  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
river  in  our  territory  would  be  an  impossible  task,  having  only 
such  data  as  I  was  able  to  collect  on  my  way  down.  I  would, 
however,  say  that  one-fourth  of  the  area  I  have  given  as  agricul- 
tural land  would  be  a  fair  conjecture.  This  would  give  us  two 
and  one-half  townships,  or  ninety  square  miles,  of  fairly  well- 
timbered  ground  ;  but  it  must  be  borne  fn  mind  that  there  is  not 
more  than  a  square  mile  or  so  of  that  in  any  one  place,  and 
most  of  the  timber  would  be  small  and  poor  compared  with  the 
timber  of  Manitoba  and  the  easterly  part  of  the  Northwest 
Territories. 

"  It  may  be  said  that  the  country  might  furnish  much  timber, 
which,  though  not  fit  to  be  classed  as  merchantable,  would  meet 
20 


306  FLORA,    FAUNA   ANt>   CLIMATE. 

many  of  the  requirements  of  the  only  industry'  the  country  is 
ever  Ukely  to  have — viz.  :  mining." 

The  native  animal  life  of  Alaska,  whether  of  land  or  sea,  fish 
or  fowl,  is  in  general  that  of  a  northern  country  with  its  peculiar 
climatic  conditions.  The  fur  bearing  land  animals  and  amphib- 
ians are  important,  and  the  fisheries  are  not  surpassed.  The 
insect  hfe  partakes  of  a  tropical  nature  and  in  summer  time  the 
pest  of  mosquitos  and  gnats  is  almost  unbearable.  There  is 
some  compensation  in  the  absence  of  snakes  from  the  territory. 

Alaska's  first  value  in  the  eyes  of  civilization  was  in  its  furs 
of  land  and  sea,  and  for  a  century  the  fur  industries  were  the 
chief  occupation  of  the  Russian  colonists  and  their  aboriginal 
aUies.  Only  within  a  decade  has  gold  been  a  rival  to  furs  in  the 
territory. 

The  fur  producing  amphibians  are  principally  the  valuable  and 
comparatively  rare  sea  otter  and  the  fur  seal,  the  ambition  of 
ever)'  woman's  heart  on  two  continents  and  the  cause  of  a 
hundred  years  of  international  complications.  The  fur  of  the 
sea  otter  is  among  the  most  beautiful  and  highly  prized  known, 
and  until  within  a  very  few  years  has  brought  enormous  prices 
in  the  London  market.  Of  the  fur  of  the  seal  it  is  unnecessary 
to  speak  further  than  to  say  that  it  is  still  the  basis  of  the  most 
extensive  commerce,  and  it  furnishes  a  livelihood  ashore  and 
afloat  to  many  thousands  of  hands,  and  employment  to  many 
millions  of  capital. 

The  Sea  Otter. 

The  sea  otter  was  once  abundant  along  the  whole  southeastern 
and  southwestern  coast  of  Alaska,  how  abundant  may  be 
gathered  from  the  fact  that  the  estimated  total  value  of  all  the 
sea  otter  skins  taken  up  to  1890  is  $36,000,000.  The  Russians 
encouraged  the  natives  to  slaughter  the  valuable  animal,  and  the 


307 


308  FLORA,    FAUNA   AND   CLIMATE. 

Yankee  fishers  and  their  British  brethren  were  no  more  inclined 

to  mercy  or  thrift  than   the   Muscovites.     Gradually  the  furry 

amphibian  was  driven   from   the   southeastern   archipelago    until 

to-day  the  chief  and,  in  fact,  almost  the  only  grounds  where  it  is 

successfully  hunted  are  along  the  Aleutian   chain   and   to   the 

eastward  in  the  neighborhood  of  Kadiak  Island  and  the  mouth 

of  the  Copper*  River. 

La   Perouse  sent  the  first  sea  otter  skins   home   to  France  in 

1788.     Their  magnificent  beauty  soon  made  them  the   talk  of 

the  courts    of  Europe,  and   as  they  were    easily  approached   by 

hunters  in  those  early  days  their  slaughter  grew  apace  with  the 

demand.      The   female   otter   is  very  tender   of  its  young   and, 

sailors  say,  often  gathers  the  little  one  upon  its  breast  between 

its  fore   legs   and    floating   on    its   back    on   the  water,  croons   a 

lullaby  to  the  baby  otter  which  the  hunters  aver  is  almost  human 

in  its  tones. 

Romance  of  the  Otter. 

A  bit  of  romance  which  colored  the  lives  of  the  native  women 
in  the  early  days  of  the  Russian  occupation  of  Alaska  was  due 
entirely  to  the  sea  otter.  The  right  to  hunt  them  was  proscribed 
to  all  except  natives  or  the  husbands  of  native  wives.  As  the 
pursuit  was  exceedingly  profitable  and  the  women  not  altogether 
bad  looking,  there  came  about  a  marrying  epidemic  among  the 
white  sailors,  especially  the  Scandinavians,  which  gave  the  dark- 
skinned  belles  a  chance  to  be  courted  into  a  home  of  their  own, 
which  it  is  safe  to  say  they  had  never  enjoyed  before.  From 
these  unions  grew  up  a  race  of  hardy  half-breed  otter  hunters 
whose  prowess  is  still  famous  on  the  coast. 

The  fur  seal,  $47,000,000  worth  of  whose  skins  had  been 
taken  up  to  1890,  once  had  a  habitat  coextensive  with  that  of 
the  sea  otter,  but  like  the  latter  has  been  driven  to  the  westward, 
and  now  only  an  occasional  specimen  is  seen  in  the  waters  of  the 


FLORA,    FAUNA  AND   CLIMATE.  309 

southeastern  archipelago.  Its  principal  Alaskan  resting  places 
are  now  the  Islands  of  St.  Paul  and  St.  George  and  the  adjacent 
rookeries. 

Other  seals  which  are  native  to  Alaskan  waters  are  the  hair, 
leopard,  saddle  and  big  black  seal  or  maklak.  They  arc  hunted 
by  the  natives  for  their  skins,  but  the  fur  is  of  small  commercial 
value. 

Land  Animals. 

The  land  animals,  native  to  Alaska,  include  several  species  of 
the  fox,  the  land  otter,  beaver,  brown,  black,  cinnamon,  grizzly 
and  polar  bears,  mink,  marten  or  sable,  lynx,  wolverine,  muskrat, 
marmat,  ermine,  squirrel,  moose,  caribou,  deer,  mountain  sheep, 
mountain  goat,  barren  ground  caribou,  musk-ox  and  wolf  The 
Esquimo  dog,  though  comparatively  domesticated,  is  also  entitled 
to  a  place  among  the  native  animals  of  the  territor>\  Some  of 
the  animals  enumerated  are  of  value  for  their  skins  or  for  food  ; 
otters  are  merely  the  brute  Ishmaels  of  the  wilderness. 

The  black,  or  silver  fox  (the  same  species  with  different  mark- 
ings), is  easily  the  king  of  the  vulpine  Alaskans.  Traffic  in  its 
skins  makes  up  the  bulk  of  the  fur  trade  of  the  Yukon  Basin. 
They  are  the  highest  priced  of  any  of  the  native  fox  skins.  The 
red  fox  is  found  all  over  the  territory  and  has  even  been  known 
to  take  a  voyage  over  to  the  Aleutian  Islands  on  an  opportunely 
drifting  ice  cake.  Its  skin  is  as  cheap  as  it  is  plenty.  The  cross 
fox,  so  named  because  it  is  a  cross  between  the  black  and  red, 
is  likewise  all  over  the  country,  and  likewise  cheap.  The  Arctic 
fox,  both  white  and  blue,  is  found  on  the  mainland  and  in  the 
Seal  and  Aleutian  Islands.  Its  skin  has  little  value.  General 
characteristics  of  the  Alaskan  foxes  are  their  perpetual  famine, 
their  absolutely  omniverous  taste  and  their  lack  of  shyness  which 
often  leads  to  unpleasant  experiences  for  "  tcndcrfeet "  when 
camping  out.     The  Alaskan   Commercial   Company  ten   years 


310  FLORA,    FAUNA   AND    CLIMATE. 

ago  established  a  "  fox   farm"  on    Seinicli   Island,  bringing  the 

black,  blue  and  silver  colonists  from  the  mainland   and   leaving 

them  to  multiply.      The  venture  is  said  to  have  proved  a  financial 

success. 

Otter    and    Bears. 

The  land  otter,  whose  skin  has  considerable  commercial  value, 
both  for  itself  and  because  of  the  ease  with  which  it  can  be 
made  into  an  imitation  of  seal  skin,  is  found  along  the  whole 
coast,  among  the  islands,  especially  around  Kadiak,  and  in  the 
Yukon  Basin. 

The  habitat  of  the  beaver  is  within  the  timber  limit.  The 
demand  and  supply  in  this  fur  are  growing  less  together  and  the 
skins  are  cheap.  The  old  currency  of  the  territory  was  beaver 
skins  and  the  denominations  are  worth  recalling  as  a  matter  of 
curiosity.  One  beaver  was  worth  four  mink,  two  marten  or  two 
white  fox  skins  ;  a  beaver  and  a  half  was  equal  to  one  red  fox 
and  three  beaver  skins  were  fair  exchange  for  a  land  otter. 

The  brown  bear  is  found  all  over  the  territory,  and  his  pelts 
are  plentiful  and  cheap.  Like  all  the  Alaskan  carnivorae,  he  is  a 
good  fisher  and  can  be  found  hanging  around  the  salmon  and 
trout  streams  in  season.  He  is  the  great  road  maker  of  the 
country  and  his  broad  trails  over  plains  and  through  swamps  are 
of  no  little  use  to  travelers.  The  black  bear  is  widely  at  home 
on  the  mainland,  generally  in  the  timber,  and  his  skin  brings  high 
prices.      The  grizzly  bear  is  found  in  the  southeast. 

The  mink,  which  is  common  on  the  mainland,  and  the 
marten,  which  sticks  close  to  standing  timber,  both  supply 
cheap  furs. 

The  animals  of  Alaska  are  all  diligently  hunted  by  the  Indians 
and  Esquimo  for  the  flesh  and  for  the  skins,  which  form  the  natural 
clothing  of  the  aborigines.  Those  whose  flesh  is  edible,  as  well 
as   the  more  valuable  fur-bearers,  are  also  the  white  hunter's 


FLOR.\,    FAUNA   AND    CLIMATE.  311 

quarries,  and  the  double  chase  is  beginning  to  tell  on  the  numbers 
of  some  of  the  species. 

The  moose  and  caribou  are  found  in  the  Yukon  basin  and  now 
and  then  furnish  a  dainty  variety  to  the  post  trader  or  the  miner 
for  his  menu.  Deer  are  found  mainly  in  the  southeast,  where 
the  mountain  sheep  and  goat  are  also  comparatively  plentiful.  All 
are  hunted  for  their  flesh  and  skins. 

Mrs.  Frederick  Schwatka  says  of  the  game  in  the  Yukon  basin  : 
"  The  great  Yukon  Valley  has  but  little  game  in  it  during  the 
summer,  for  the  mosquitos  drive  all  game  to  higher  altitudes. 
Formerly  during  the  winter  season  a  living  could  be  made  by 
experienced  hunters  in  bringing  inoose  and  caribou  meat  to  camp. 
I  heard  one  miner  say,  who  had  spent  four  winters  on  the  Yukon, 
that  he  had  seen  moose  and  caribou  so  numerous  on  the  bald 
hills  above  timber  limit,  in  the  present  gold  field  district,  that  they 
gave  the  snow  a  mottled,  gray  appearance.  Of  course  these 
have  now  disappeared  with  the  advance  of  civilization,  and  fresh 
meat  of  any  kind  is  now  at  a  premium." 

Canadian  Fauna. 

Dominion  Land  Surveyor  Ogilvie's  official  report  on  the  fauna 
of  the  Canadian  territory  adjacent  to  Alaska  is  r.s  follows  : 

"  The  principal  furs  procured  in  the  district  are  the  silver-gray 
and  black  fox,  the  number  of  which  bears  a  greater  ratio  to  the 
number  of  red  foxes  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  country.  The 
red  fox  is  very  common,  and  a  species  called  the  blue  is  very 
abundant  near  the  coast.  Marten,  or  sable,  are  also  numerous, 
as  are  lynx  ;  but  otter  are  scarce,  and  beaver  almost  unknown. 

"  It  is  probable  that  the  value  of  gray  and  black  fox  skins 
taken  out  of  the  country  more  than  equals  in  value  all  the  other 
furs.  I  could  get  no  statistics  concerning  this  trade  for  obvious 
reasons. 


312  FLORA,    FAUNA   AND    CLIMATE. 

"  G  ime  is  not  now  as  abundant  as  before  mining  began,  and  it 
is  difficult,  in  fact  impossible,  to  get  any  close  to  the  river. 

"A  boom  in  mining  would  soon  exterminate  the  game  in  the 
district  along  the  river. 

"  There  are  two  species  of  caribou  in  the  country  ;  one,  the 
ordinary  kind,  found  in  most  parts  of  the  Northwest,  and  said 
to  much  resemble  the  reindeer;  the  other,  called  the  'wood 
caribou,'  a  much  larger  and  more  beautiful  animal.  Except  that 
the  antlers  are  much  smaller,  it  appears  to  me  to  resemble  the 
elk  or  wapiti. 

"  The  ordinary  caribou  runs  in  herds,  often  numbering  hun- 
dreds. 

Bear  in  Abundance. 

"  There  are  four  species  of  bear  found  in  the  district — the 
grizzly,  brown,  black  and  a  small  kind,  locally  known  as  the 
'  silver-tip,'  the  latter  being  gray  in  color,  with  a  white  throat 
and  beard,  whence  its  name.  It  is  said  to  be  fierce,  and  not  to 
wait  to  be  attacked,  but  to  attack  on  sight.  I  had  not  the  pleas- 
ure of  seeing  any,  but  heard  many  '  yarns '  about  them,  some  of 
which,  I  think,  were  'hunters'  tales.'  It  appears,  however,  that 
miners  and  Indians,  unless  traveling  in  numbers,  or  especially 
well  armed,  give  them  as  wide  a  berth  as  they  conveniently  can. 

"  Wolves  are  not  plentiful.  A  few  of  the  common  gray 
species  only  are  killed,  the  black  being  very  scarce. 

"  The  Arctic  rabbit  or  hare  is  sometimes  found,  but  they  are 
not  numerous.  There  is  a  curious  fact  in  connection  with  the 
ordinary  hare  or  rabbit  which  I  have  observed  but  of  which  I 
have  never  yet  seen  any  satisfactory  explanation.  Their  numbers 
vary  from  a  very  few  to  myriads,  in  periods  of  seven  years." 

The  Alaskan  birds  include  the  grouse,  ptarmigan,  snipe,  mal- 
lard and  teal  duck,  goose,  loon,  gray  and  bald  eagle,  sea  parrot, 
gulls,  auks  and  many  other  sea  fowls.  One  of  the  ornithological 


313 


314  FLORA,    FAUNA   AND    CLIMATE. 

wonders  of  the  territory  last  year  was  a  pair  of  humming  birds 
which  nested  in  Sitka.  The  sea  birds  supp'y  the  Indians  with  a 
profitable  pursuit  gathering  their  eggs  from  the  rocks.  The 
eggs  are  a  staple  article  of  diet  with  the  natives. 

The  piscatorial  wealth  of  Alaska  ranks  next  to  the  furs.  The 
food  fishes  are  numerous,  but  the  salmon  easily  leads  them  all 
in  importance,  and  the  canning  and  drying  of  this  dainty  fish 
make  the  third  industry  of  the  territory,  gold  being  now  the 
first,  of  course,  and  furs  the  second. 

The  first  salmon  cannery  was  established  at  Old  Sitka  in 
1878,  but  another  was  started  in  1883  at  Kadiak  Island,  and 
since  that  time  the  canneries  and  salteries  (though  the  salmon 
was  never  accused  of  singing  like  the  catfish  it  still  has  salteries) 
have  spread  all  along  the  coast. 

Species  of  Salmon. 

The  king  or  "  tyee  "  salmon  has  the  highest  standing  in  the 
market.  Less  highly  esteemed  are  the  silver  or  red,  cohoe,  dog 
and  humpback  salmon.  The  cod,  which  is  found  all  along  the 
south  shore,  comes  next  in  commercial  importance.  It  much 
resembles  the  cod  of  the  North  Atlantic.  Halibut  are  found 
all  along  the  coast,  in  the  channels  and  to  the  western  extremity 
of  the  Aleutian  Islands  at  Attu.  No  great  quantity  of  this  fish 
is  shipped,  but  the  natives  catch  it  in  great  numbers,  smoke  or 
dry  the  flesh,  and  esteem  it  highly  for  food.  Herring  are  found 
in  immense  shoals  in  the  bays  and  estuaries  and  throughout  the 
island  chains.  They  supply  material  to  a  large  oil  and  fertilizer 
factoryatKillisnoo,  the  product  of  which  is  shipped  to  the  Sandwich 
Islands.  The  salmon  trout  is  a  fish  of  magnificent  size  and  fine 
flavor  and  mountain  trout  are  caught  freely  in  the  southeast. 
There  are  also  many  other  edible  fish  in  the  waters  of  the  southeast. 

The  uliken,  or  candle  fish  is  found  in  the  southeastern  waters, 


FLORA,    FAUNA   AND    CLIMATE.  315 

and  is  highly  prized  by  the  Indians  for  food  and  medicinal  pur- 
poses. It  is  so  oily  that  it  cooks  to  a  turn  in  its  own  oil  and  is 
said  to  be  then  a  delicious  morsel.  The  oil  has  a  flavor  not 
unlike  that  of  olive,  and  the  natives  esteem  it  highly  as  a  remedy 
for  lung  troubles  and  for  dyspepsia. 

It  would  not  be  fair  to  the  dog-fish  to  pass  him  by  without  at 
least  a  mention.  He  is  useless  for  food,  even  to  the  strong- 
stomached  native,  who  deems  blubber  a  delicacy  and  whale  oil 
a  libation  to  pour  to  his  heathen  gods  ;  but  the  dog-fish  can  stand 
more  abuse  and  make  less  fuss  about  it  than  any  other  known 
member  of  the  animal  kingdom.  When  by  any  ill  luck  a  tourist, 
fishing  off  the  wharf  at  Sitka  or  Juneau,  pulls  up  a  dog-fish  on 
his  line,  some  stolid  native  is  sure  to  beg  the  prize.  The  Indian 
rips  the  squirming  dog-fish,  takes  out  his  liver  to  try  out  for  oil, 
and  flings  him  back  into  the  water,  where  he  swims  off  apparently 
as  lively  as  if  he  was  in  the  habit  of  having  such  things  happen 
every  day.  It  is  said  that  the  only  dog-fish  that  was  ever  killed 
at  Sitka  was  one  which,  having  been  originally  delivered  by  an 
Indian,  insisted  on  being  caught  by  a  white  man  and  hauled  up 
and  thrown  out  to  a  native,  as  if  in  mockery  of  the  latter's  de- 
sire for  liver.  The  Indian  thought  the  joke  had  been  played 
on  him  once  too  often,  and  smashed  the  dog-fish's  head 
with  a  stone.  A  valuable  lubricating  oil  is  obtained  from  the 
dog-fish,  and  the  natives  use  the  skin  of  its  belly  for  sand- 
paper. 

Finds  Vast  Fishing  Banks. 

The  United  States  steamer  Albatross,  in  making  soundings  for 
the  Coast  Survey,  developed  vast  and  thitherto  unknown  fishing 
banks  all  along  the  Aleutian  Chain.  It  is  on  these  banks  the 
best  cod  fishing  is  had.  . 

Of  the  cetaceans  the  whale,  beluga  or  white  grampus,  and 
porpoise  are  found  all  along  the  Alaskan  coast. 


316  FLORA,    FAUNA   AND    CLIMATE. 

The  regular  whale  fishing  gounds  are  on  the  Arctic  shore, 
where  Herschel  Lsland,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mackenzie  River  is 
a  common  station  for  all  whalers.  A  large  American  fleet  is 
constantly  on  the  grounds.  Black  whales  often  appear  in  the 
channels  around  the  Southeastern  Archipelago  in  such  numbers 
as  to  terrify  the  Indians  who  are  out  in  their  canoes. 

The  obese  walrus,  once  the  principal  food  supply  of  the  region 
of  its  habital,  has  been  hunted  nearly  to  extermination. 

Many  beluga  arc  taken  each  season  by  the  Esquimeaux  south  of 
Norton  Sound,  with  whom  it  is  a  food  staple.  The  porpoise  is 
also  a  constant  object  of  the  watejy  chase. 

Crabs  and  clams  are  plentiful  on  the  southern  coasts,  but  no 
oysters  are  found. 

Insect   Pests. 

It  would  be  a  vital  defect  in  the  story  of  the  animal  life  of 
Alaska  if  no  mention  w^as  made  of  the  insects  which  make  life 
a  burden  in  the  short,  hot  summer  of  the  interior.  Horseflies, 
gnats  and  mosquitos  nearly  drive  men  and  beasts  wild.  The 
horsefly  is  larger  and  more  "  pointed "  than  the  insect  of  the 
same  name  in  the  States.  In  dressing  or  undressing  it  has  the 
pleasant  habit  of  detecting  any  bare  spot  in  the  body  and  biting 
out  a  piece  of  flesh,  leaving  a  wound  which  in  a  few  days  later 
looks  like  an  incipient  boil.  Schwatka  reports  that  one  of  his 
party  so  bitten  was  completely  disabled  for  a  week.  "At  the 
moment  of  infliction,"  he  adds,  "  it  was  hard  to  believe  that 
one  was  not  disabled  for  life." 

The  mosquitos,  according  to  the  same  authority,  are  equally 
distressing.  They  are  especially  fond  of  cattle,  but  without  any 
reciprocity  of  affection.  "According  to  the  general  terms  of  the 
survival  of  the  fittest  and  the  growth  of  muscles  most  used  to 
the  detriment  of  others,"  says  the  lieutenant  in  an  unusual  burst 


FLORA,    FAUNA    AND    CLIMATE.  817 

of  humor,  "  a  band  of  cattle  inhabiting  this  district  in  the  far 
future  would  be  all  tail  and  no  body,  unless  the  mosquitos  should 
experience  a  change  of  numbers." 

Mrs.  Schwatka,  in  speaking  of  the  trials  of  the  miner's  life, 
touches  on  his  sufferings  from  these  insect  pests  in  these  words  : 

"  Again  in  summer  the  work  of  the  miner  is  difficult.     As  I 

have  said  the  interior  country  is  tundra  land — that  is,  the  earth 

is  frozen  to  a  great  depth,  never  entirely  thawing  out.     Wherever 

the  sun  strikes   the   surface,  great  pools   of   muddy  water  are 

formed,  and  this  prevents  any  sort  of  prospecting.     These  pools 

of  stagnant  water  breed  great  swarms  of  mosquitos  and  gnats, 

which  make  it  desirable  to  cover  the  head  with  mosquito  netting, 

or  better   still,  adopt  the  Indian  method,  and  smear  the  hands 

and  face  with  a  mixture  of  grease  and  soot,  which  prevents  the 

pests  from  biting.     At  some  seasons  in  this  country'  they  are  in 

such  dense   swarms   that  at   night  they  will  practically  cover  a 

mosquito    netting,    fairly    touching    each    other    and    crowding 

through  any  kind  of  mesh.     I  have  heard  it  asserted  by  people 

of  experience  that  they  form    co-operative  societies   and  assist 

each  other  through  the  meshes  by  pushing  behind  and  pulling 

in  front.      Others  again  say  they  are  too  mean  for  such  generous 

action." 

Climate  of  Alaska. 

The  cUmate  of  the  Alaskan  coast  regions  is  much  milder,  even 
in  the  higher  latitudes,  than  it  is  in  the  interior  or  in  correspond- 
ing latitudes  on  the  Atlantic  coast.  This  is  easily  explainea  and 
understood  when  the  natural  forces  of  production  of  this  milder 
temperature  are  contemplated. 

The  most  important  among  them  is  the  thermal  current 
resembling  the  Atlantic  Gulf  Stream,  and  known  as  the  Japanese 
or  Kuro  Siwo,  or  Black  Water.  It  has  its  origin  under  the 
equator  near  the  Molucca  and  Philippine  Islands,  passes  north- 


ins  FLORA.    FAUNA   AND   CLIMATE. 

ward  along  the  coast  of  Japan,  and  crosses  the  Pacific  to  the 
southward  of  the  Aleutian  Islands,  after  sending  a  branch 
through  Behring  Sea.  On  the  coast  of  British  Columbia  it 
divides  again,  one  branch  turning  north  toward  Sitka,  and  thence 
westward  to  the  Kadiak  and  Shumagin  Islands. 

The  comparatively  warm  waters  of  these  currents  affect  the 
temperature  of  the  superjacent  atmosphere,  which,  absorbing 
the  latent  heat,  carries  it  to  the  coast  with  all  its  mollifying 
effects.  Thus  the  oceanic  and  atmospheric  currents  combine  in 
mitigating  the  coast  climate  of  Alaska,  while  the  almost  impene- 
trable barrier  of  lofty  mountains  deflects  the  ice-laden  northern 
gales  from  the  interior. 

The  mean  winter  temperature  of  Sitka  is  slightly  above  30 
degrees,  while  that  of  Portland,  Maine,  is  about  27  degrees. 
The  lowest  in  winter  in  1889,  in  Sitka,  was  3  degrees ;  in  Halifax, 
Nova  Scotia,  7  degrees ;   and  in  Portland,  Maine,  i  5  degrees. 

Weather  Bureau  Report. 

Under  the  direction  of  Secretary  of  Agriculture  James  Wilson, 
Willis  L.  Moore,  Chief  of  the  Weather  Bureau,  makes  public 
the  following  : 

"  The  general  conception  of  Alaskan  climate  is  largely  due  to 
those  who  follow  the  sea,  and  this  is  not  strange  when  we  con- 
sider the  vast  extent  of  short  line  (over  26,000  miles)  possessed 
by  that  territory. 

"  The  climate  of  the  coast  and  the  interior  is  unlike  in  many 
respects,  and  the  differences  are  intensified  in  this,  as,  perhaps, 
in  few  other  countries,  by  exceptional  physical  conditions. 

"  The  natural  contrast  between  land  and  sea  is  here  tremend- 
ously increased  by  the  current  of  warm  water  that  impinges  on 
the  coast  of  British  Columbia,  one  branch  flowing  northward 
toward  Sitka,  and  thence  westward  to  the  Kadiak  and  Shumagin 


319 


g20  FLORA,    FAUNA   AND    CLIMATE. 

Lslands.  The  fringe  of  islands  that  separates  the  mainland  from 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  from  Dixon  Sound  northward,  and  also  a  strip 
of  the  mainland  for  possibly  twenty  miles  back  from  the  sea, 
following  the  sweep  of  the  coast  as  it  curv^es  to  the  northwest- 
ward, to  the  western  extremitj^  of  Alaska,  form  a  distinct, 
climatic  division  which  may  be  termed  temperate  Alaska. 

"  The  temperature  rarely  falls  to  zero.  Winter  does  not  set 
in  until  December  i  st,  and  by  the  last  of  May  the  snow  has  dis- 
appeared, except  on  the  mountains.  The  mean  winter  tempera- 
ture of  Sitka  is  32.5  degrees,  but  little  less  than  that  of  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.  While  Sitka  is  fully  exposed  to  the  sea  influences, 
places  farther  inland,  but  not  over  the  coast  range  of  mountains, 
as  Killisnoo  and  Juneau  have  also  a  mild  temperature  throughout 
the  winter  months. 

Small  Changes  of  Temperature. 

"  The  temperature  changes  from  month  to  month  in  Alaska 
are  small,  not  exceeding  25  degrees  from  midwinter  to  mid- 
summer. The  average  temperature  of  July,  the  warmest  month 
of  summer,  rarely  reaches  5  5  degrees,  and  the  highest  tempera- 
ture for  a  single  day  seldom  reaches  75  degrees. 

"  The  rainfall  of  temperate  Alaska  is  notorious  the  world  over, 
and  not  only  as  regards  the  quantity  but  also  as  to  the  manner 
of  its  falling — viz.  :  in  long  and  incessant  rains  and  drizzles. 
Cloud  and  fog  naturally  abound,  there  being  on  an  average  bu* 
sixty-six  clear  days  in  the  year. 

"  Alaska  is  a  country  of  striking  contrasts,  both  in  climate  as 
well  as  topography.  When  the  sun  shines  the  atmosphere  is 
remarkably  clear,  the  scenic  effects  are  magnificent ;  all  nature 
seems  to  be  in  holiday  attire.  But  the  scene  may  change  very 
quickly.  The  sky  becomes  overcast,  the  winds  increase  in 
force,  rain  begins  to  fall,  the  evergreens  sigh  ominously,  and 
utter  desolation  and  l-^neliness  prevail. 


FLORA,    FAUNA   AND   CLIMATE.  321 

"  North  of  the  Aleutian  Lslands  the  coast  climate  becomes 
more  rigorous  in  winter,  but  in  summer  the  difference  is  much 
less  marked.  Thus,  at  St.  Michael's,  a  short  distance  above  the 
mouth  of  the  Yukon,  the  mean  summer  temperature  is  50 
degrees,  but  four  degrees  cooler  than  Sitka.  The  mean  summer 
temperature  of  Point  Barrow,  the  most  northerly  point  in  the 
United  States,  is  36.8  degrees,  but  four-tenths  of  a  degree  less  than 
the  temperature  of  the  air  flowing  across  the  summit  of  Pike's 
Peak,  Colorado.  The  rainfall  of  the  coast  region  north  of  the 
Yukon  delta  is  small,  diminishing  to  less  than  ten  inches  with'i 
the  Arctic  Circle. 

"  The  climate  of  the  interior,  including  in  that  designatior 
practically  all  of  the  country'  except  a  narrow  fringe  of  coasta' 
margin  and  the  tcrritor}-  before  referred  to  as  temperate  Alaska,^ 
is  one  of  extreme  rigor  in  winter,  with  a  brief  but  relatively  hot 
summer,  especially  when  the  sky  is  free  from  clouds. 

"  In  the  Klondike  region  in  midwinter  the  sun  rises  from  9:3c 
to  10  A.M.  and  sets  from  2  to  3  p.  m.,  the  totp.l  length  of  day- 
light being  about  four  hours.  Remembering  that  the  sun  rises 
but  a  few  degrees  above  the  horizon,  an  J  that  it  is  wholly 
obscured  on  a  great  many  da}'s,  the  character  of  the  winter 
months  may  easily  be  imagined. 

Temperature  or.  Yukon. 

"  We  are  indebted  to  the  United  States  Coast  and  Geodetic 
Survey  for  a  series  of  six  months'  observations  on  the  Yukon, 
not  far  from  the  site  of  the  present  gold  discoveries.  The  obser- 
vations were  made  with  standard  instruments,  and  are  wholly 
reliable.  The  mean  temperature  of  the  months  October,  1889,  to 
April,  1890,  both  inclusive,  areas  follows:  October,  33  degrees; 
November,  8  degrees  ;  December,  1 1  degrees,  below  zero ;  Jan- 
uary, 1 7  below  zero  ,  February,  1 5  below  zero  ;  March,  6  above  ; 
21 


322  FLORA,    FAUNA   AND   CLIMATE. 

April,  20  above  The  daily  mean  temperature  fell  and  remained 
below  the  freezing  point  (32  degrees)  from  November  4,  1889,  to 
April  21,  1890,  thus  giving  168  days  as  the  length  of  the  closed 
season  of  1889— '90,  assuming  that  outdoor  operations  are  con- 
trolled by  temperature  only.  The  lowest  temperatures  registered 
during  the  winter  were  :  Thirty-two  degrees  below  zero  in  No- 
vember, 47  below  in  December,  59  below  in  January,  55  below 
in  February,  45  below  in  March,  and  26  below  in  April. 

"  The  greatest  continuous  cold  occurred  in  February,  1890, 
when  the  daily  mean  for  five  consecutive  days  was  47  below  zero. 

"  Greater  cold  than  that  here  noted  has  been  experienced  in 
the  United  States  for  a  very  short  time,  but  never  has  it  continued 
so  very  cold  for  so  long  a  time  in  the  interior  of  Alaska.  The 
winter  sets  in  as  earh'  as  September,  when  snow-storms  ma}'  be 
expected  in  the  mountains  and  passes.  Headway  during  one  of 
these  storms  is  impossible,  and  the  traveler  who  is  overtaken  by 
one  of  them  is  indeed  fortunate  if  he  escapes  with  his  life. 
Snow-storms  of  great  severity  may  occur  in  any  month  from 
September  to  May,  inclusive. 

"  The  changes  of  temperature  from  winter  to  summer  are 
rapid,  owing  to  the  great  increase  in  the  length  of  the  day.  In 
May  the  sun  rises  at  about  3  A.  m.  and  sets  about  9  p.  m.  In 
June  it  rises  about  half-past  i  in  the  morning  and  sets  about  half- 
past  10,  giving  about  twenty  hours  of  daylight  and  diffuse  twi- 
light the  remainder  of  the  time. 

"  The  mean  summer  temperature  in  the  interior  doubtless 
ranges  between  60  and  70  degrees,  according  to  elevation,  being 
highest  in  the  middle  and  lower  Yukon  valleys." 

Dominion   Climate. 

Describing  the  country  in  the  coast  range  mountains  near 
Taiya  Inlet,  Dominion  Surveyor  Ogilvie  writes  : 


FLORA,    FAUNA   AND   CLIMATE.  323 

"  It  is  said  by  those  familiar  with  the  locality  that  the  storms 
which  rage  in  the  upper  altitudes  of  the  coast  range  tiuring  the 
greater  part  of  the  time  from  October  to  Marcii  are  terrific.  A 
man  caught  in  one  of  them  runs  the  risk  of  losing  his  life,  unless 
he  can  reach  shelter  in  a  short  time. 

"  During  the  summer  there  is  nearly  always  a  wind  blowing 
from  the  sea  up  Chatham  Strait  and  Lynn  Canal,  which  lie  in 
almost  a  straight  line  with  each  other,  and  at  the  head  of  Lynn 
Canal  are  Chilkat  and  Chilkoot  Lilets.  The  distance  from  the 
coast  down  these  channels  to  the   open  sea  is  about  380  miles. 

The  mountains  on  each  side  of  the  water  confine  the  currents 
of  air,  and  deflect  inclined  currents  in  the  direction  of  the  axis 
of  the  channel,  so  that  there  is  nearly  always  a  strong  wind 
blowing  up  the  channel.  Coming  from  the  sea,  this  wind  is 
heavily  charged  with  moisture,  which  is  precipitated  when  the 
air  current  strikes  the  mountains,  and  the  fall  of  rain  and  snow 
is  consequently  very  heavy. 

"  Li  Chilkat  Inlet  there  is  not  much  shelter  from  the  south 
wind,  which  renders  it  unsafe  for  ships  calling  here.  Captain 
Hunter  told  me  he  would  rather  visit  any  other  part  of  the  coast 
than  Chilkat." 

Mounted  Police  Report. 

The  report  of  the  Canadian  Mounted  Police  shows  that  on 
twenty-four  days  during  the  winter  of  1896-97,  the  thermometer 
registered  50  degrees  or  more  below  zero.  The  report  con- 
tinues : 

"  Apparently  the  temperature  first  touched  zero  on  November 
loth,  and  the  last  zero  recorded  in  the  spring  was  on  April  29th. 

Between  December  1 9th  and  February  6th  it  never  rose  above 
zero.  The  lowest  actual  point,  65  degrees,  occurred  on  January 
27th  and  on  twenty-four  days  during  the  winter  the  temperature 
was  below  50  degrees." 


CHAPTER  XI. 
Industries  and   Industrial   Development. 

Chief  Occupations  of  the  Natives  and  the  Settlers — The  Four  Remarkable 
Seal  Islands — How  the  Animals  Have  Been  Ruthlessly  Slaughtered — 
When  the  Fur  is  at  Its  Best— The  Great  Fishing  Plants  of  the  Country — 
Alaska  the  Home  of  the  Salmon — Cod  and  Other  Fish  Abound — Trap- 
ping and  Hunting  on  the  Decline — Current  Belief  that  the  Outlook 
for  Lumbering  is  Not  Good — Probability  that  this  Opinion  may  be  Re- 
versed by  Later  Discover}- — Trees  on  th£  Islands — Agricultural  Develop- 
ment one  of  the  Great  Needs  at  the  Present  Time — Land  Simply  Needs 
Tilling — Vegetables  and  Berries  Grown  in  Quantities — Reports  of 
Travelers. 

^MIE  resources  of  Alaska  are,  as  has  been  shown  in  another 
1         chapter,  as  diversified  and  remarkable  as  the  surface  of  its 
vast  district.      With  a  few  noteworthy  exceptions,  how- 
ever, these  resources  are  largely  undeveloped. 

The  country  is  so  remote,  its  fastnesses  have  been  so  inaccessi- 
ble, the  lack  of  transit  facilities  has  imposed  such  a  barrier  on 
imigration,  that  few  are  the  hardy  souls  who  have  traversed  its 
boundless  plains,  its  mighty  rivers  and  its  snow-capped  mountains ; 
and  still  fewer  are  the  capitalists  who  have  had  the  hardihood  to 
seek  the  country  for  investment. 

The  result  is  that  in  most  lines  of  industry  the  possibilities  of 
the  country  are  largely  a  matter  of  conjecture. 

Two  or  three  occupations  received  early  attention  and  have 
been  followed  systematically.  The  Russians  recognized  the  value 
of  the  fur- bearing  animals  and  were  pioneers  in  the  enterprise 
that  John  Jacob  Astor  made  so  memorable  throughout  the  North- 
west. The  wealth  of  fish  in  the  vast  rivers  of  the  country  also 
appealed  to  the  commercial  sense  of  the  Russians.  The  same  is 
true  of  the  seal  islands,  from  Which  such  revenue  was  derived  in 
the  days  of  Russian  occupation. 

324 


INDUSTRIAL   DEVELOPMENT.  ,'J25 

The  mineral  wealth  of  the  Territorj'  has  only  in  a  limited 
measure  tempted  the  capital  of  more  civilized  communities,  with 
the  exception  of  gold  mining.  The  story,  therefore,  of  the  in- 
dustries of  the  countr}'  would  be  a  meager  one  were  it  not  in  a 
large  measure  told  in  the  language  of  opinion  and  prophecy.  A 
resume  is  here  given  of  the  interests  that  have  claimed  attention 
outside  the  gold  fields,  and  a  forecast  of  the  future  on  other 
lines. 

The  Four  Seal  Islands. 

The  much-talked-of  seal  islands  are  one  of  the  features  of 
Alaska.  These  are  four  volcanic  islands,  which  lie  220  miles 
northwest  of  Unalaska.  They  are  veiled  in  perpetual  mists  and 
fogs  in  the  summer  season  and  are  closely  hedged  round  with 
drift  ice  in  winter.  They  are  absolutely  treeless,  but  are  covered 
with  moss  and  grass,  and  in  the  proper  season  are  brilliant  with 
wild  flowers. 

Hundreds  of  thousands  of  seals  gather  annually  on  these 
islands,  and  the  slaughter  grounds,  where  millions  of  seals  have 
been  killed  in  the  last  century,  are  rarely  visited  except  by  those 
engaged  in  the  business  and  by  a  few  hardy  tourists.  The  odors 
of  these  rookeries,  as  they  are  called,  can  be  perceived  far  out  at 
sea,  and  not  infrequently  the  barking  of  the  animals  is  the  mari- 
ner's only  guide  in  the  dense  fogs  that  settle  over  the  waters. 

No  vessels  other  than  those  belonging  to  the  government  are 
allowed  to  enter  or  even  to  approach  the  harbors.  The  largest 
of  the  -islands  is  called  St.  Paul,  and  is  twelve  miles  long  and 
from  six  to  eight  miles  wide.  St.  George  Lsland,  thirty  miles 
north,  is  a  little  smaller  ;  and  between  these  two  lie  Otter  and 
Walrus  Islands. 

Practically  the  only  inhabitants  of  the  islands  are  the  Aleuts, 
who  have  rather  tidy  villages,  Greek  churches  and  school  houses. 
The  islands  are  the  government  reserve,  and  are  leased  by  the 


32fi  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

United  States  Treasury  Department  for  the  term  of  twenty  years. 
It  has  been  said,  and  that  with  truth,  that  for  over  a  century 
these  four  islands  have  yielded  more  wealth  than  any  gold  mine 
in  the  world. 

With  the  settlement  of  the  northwest  coast,  however,  the  pros- 
perity of  the  islands  has  somewhat  diminished,  for  the  reason 
that  the  seals  have  been  exterminated  ruthlessly. 

A  word  here  about  the  discovery  of  these  islands.  For  forty 
years  Siberian  traders  hunted  for  the  fabled  island  of  Amik,  where, 
it  was  believed,  the  sea  bears  lived.  In  1786  Gerassim  Pribylov 
heard  the  barking  of  the  animals  through  the  fog  and  found  the 
summer  home  of  the  fur  seals.  It  is  said  that  2,000,000  seals 
were  killed  that  year,  and  the  wholesale  destruction  of  the  animals 
has  practically  kept  up  ever  since,  barring  a  short  interim  when 
steps  were  taken  of  a  preventive  character  to  allow  the  rookeries 
time  to  recuperate  . 

In  1835  the  islands  were  ringed  with  ice  so  that  the  seals 
could  not  land  and  their  offspring  died  in  the  surf  with  their 
mothers.  Some  years  later  the  herd  was  nearly  extinct  again. 
In  1 844  Sir  George  Simpson  found  the  company  having  control 
over  the  islands  taking  from  200,000  to  300,000  skins  annually. 
The  market  at  that  time  was  so  overstocked  that  the  skins  did 
not  pay  for  carrying. 

In  cases  of  a  glut  of  the  market  there  have  been  times  when 
from  700,000  to  1,000,000  skins  were  thrown  into  the  sea  to 
keep  prices  up.  It  was  not  until  about  the  time  of  the  transfer 
of  the  country  to  the  United  States  that  the  vast  importance  of 
these  four  little  islands  was  realized. 

Seven  Companies  at  Work. 

No  protection  was  afforded  them  in  1868,  and  at  that  time 
seven  companies  had  the  privilege  of  devastating  the  islands  and 


INDUSTRIAL   DEVELOPMI-:XT.  827 

slaughtering  the  animals.  The  next  year,  however,  the  islands 
were  declared  a  Government  reserve,  and  a  guard  of  soldiers 
was  stationed  there.  In  1870  the  islands  of  St.  Paul  and  St. 
George  and  the  seal  fisheries  were  leased  for  a  period  of  twenty 
years  to  the  Alaska  Commercial  Company,  of  San  Francisco. 
This  company  had  previously  purchased  all'  the  buildings  and 
the  good  will  of  the  Russian-American  Fur  Company  through- 
out Alaska. 

The  company  was  permitted  to  kill  100,000  sei^ls  each  year, 
80,000  on  St.  Paul  and  20,000  on  St.  George,  for  an  annual 
rental  of  ;$ 5  5,000.  It  is  believed  that  the  company  divided  from 
$900,000  to  $  1 ,000,000  profits  each  year  between  twelve  original 
stockholders.  In  1890  a  twenty -year  lease  was  awarded  to  the 
North  American  Commercial  Company,  of  San  Francisco,  at  an 
annual  rental  of  $100,000,  a  tax  of  $9.62  on  each  100,000  skins 
taken,  the  islands  then  to  return  over  a  million  a  year  to  the 
Government,  or  14  per  cent,  on  Secretary  Seward's  investment. 

Miss  Skidmore  points  out  the  fact  that  pelagic  sealing  and 
rookery  raiding  by  the  Victoria  fleet  had  so  diminished  the  herd 
that  the  lessees  were  only  permitted  to  take  20,000  animals  the 
first  season,  and  for  three  seasons,  while  the  seal  question  was  a 
matter  of  diplomatic  discussion,  only  the  few  seals  necessary  for 
the  food  supply  of  the  natives  were  killed. 

Fur  at  Its  Best. 

The  seal  fur,  she  also  states,  is  in  its  best  condition  immedi- 
ately on  the  arrival  of  the  animals  at  the  islands,  but  they  assume 
new  coats  in  August,  so  that  they  are  in  fine  condition  when 
they  leave  at  the  end  of  September.  Only  male  seals  from  two 
to  four  years  of  age  are  killed. 

The  bachelors  herd  alone,  and  the  natives  run  in  between 
them  and  the  water,  in  the  early  morning,  and  drive  them  slowly 


328  INDUSTRIAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

to  the  killing  grounds,  where  they  are  dispatched  by  a  blow  on 
the  head.  They  are  quickly  bled  and  the  skins  taken  to  the 
salting  house. 

It  may  be  mentioned  as  a  matter  of  interest  that  Miss  Anna 
Fulcomer,  with  whom  an  interview  was  given  in  another  chap- 
ter, had  the  privilege  of  visiting  the  seal  islands  and  the  killing 
grounds.  She  crept  up  behind  a  herd  of  animals  as  they  were 
sleeping,  and  softly  stroked  the  ears  of  a  big  male.  Her  caress 
awakened  the  animal,  and,  with  hissing  and  barking,  he  roused 
the  rest  of  the  herd,  and  the  whole  lot  scampered  off  as  fast  as 

they  could. 

The    Fishing  Industry, 

The  fisheries  of  the  country  have  been  one  of  the  leading 
sources  of  wealth  to  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  gold.  It  is  to 
be  remembered  that  productive  as  sealing  has  been,  a  limit  has 
been  reached  in  that  industry^  which  makes  it,  and  will  for  some 
time  make  it,  comparatively  unproductive.  The  vast  rivers  of 
Alaska,  however,  annually  teem  with  a  wealth  of  fish,  and  the 
wholesale  netting  of  them  seems  in  nowise  to  diminish  the 
number. 

These  fish  vary  in  kind  and  are  excellent  in  quality,  and  will, 
therefore,  remain  a  constant  source  of  wealth  to  the  populace. 
In  Southern  Alaska  and  along  the  coast  line  many  very  large 
canneries  have  long  been  in  operation,  and  their  output  has  been 
something  remarkable.  There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  there 
will  be  any  falling  off  in  this  line  of  occupation.  Thousands  of 
people  of  every  nationality  are  engaged  in  the  fisheries,  the 
product  of  which  is  sent  all  over  the  world. 

Unlike  the  great  mineral  wealth  of  the  countr)%  which  lies 
hidden  from  view,  and  has  to  await  some  chance  discover)^  the 
fish  that  abound  in  the  waters  are  open  to  view,  and  hence,  there 
was  no  delay  in  the  early  development  of  this  industry.     Besides 


INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT.  321) 

this,  the  canneries  arc  for  the  most  part  located  near  the  coast 
line,  and  hence  those  engaged  in  the  business  were  not  compelled 
to  go  hundreds  or  perhaps  thousands  of  miles  over  snow-clad 
plains  and  mountains. 

It  was  not  necessary,  further,  to  import  into  the  country 
expensive  machinery,  and  it  was  not  difficult  to  get  natives  and 
other  laborers  from  all  over  the  world  to  engage  in  the  Avork  of 
catching  the  fish.  As  a  consequence,  Alaska  soon  built  up  a 
trade  in  the  line  of  fisheries  that  placed  it  on  a  rank  with  the 
greatest  fishing  centres  of  the  world. 

Home  of  the  Salmon. 

Alaska  is  the  home,  practically,  of  the  salmon,  of  whicii  there 
are  five  distinct  varieties.  It  has  been  pointed  out  that  the 
Pacific  salmon  and  the  Pacific  trout  differ  so  from  the  Atlantic 
species  that  the  question  has  been  raised  whether  there  are  true 
salmon  or  trout  on  that  coast,  and  f^hether  any  game  laws  can  be 
enforced  under  such  names. 

The  king  salmon  is  generally  called  the  tyee,  which  means 
chief.  It  averages  from  sixty  to  eighty  pounds  in  the  Stikinc 
River,  and  often  exceeds  one  hundred  pounds  in  the  Yukon. 
The  fish  commonly  come  in  pairs  and  not  in  great  schools,  and 
hence  it  is  not  the  whole  pack  of  any  cannery. 

The  red  salmon  is  the  blueback  or  Oregon  Salmon,  and  is  the 
canners'  favorite.  It  averages  from  six  to  ten  pounds  in  weight, 
comes  in  schools  of  vast  size,  and  has  flesh  of  a  deep  red  color. 
The  silver  salmon  is  the  gamiest  of  the  lot,  and  is  the  most 
beautiful.  Its  flesh  is  pale,  but  has  to  be  cared  for  almost  imme- 
diately. Otherwise  it  is  unfit  for  canning  purposes.  The  fish 
always  chooses  clear  water  and  shows  a  remarkable  agilit)'  in 
leaping  waterfalls. 

The  humpbacked  species  is  the  most  abundant.     It  averages 


330  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

from  five  to  ten  pounds  in  weight,  and  has  flesh  of  a  pale  color 
which  cooks  soft,  and  hence  is  not  very  desirable  for  packing 
purposes.  This  fish  has  been  known  to  jump  falls  sixteen  feet 
high.  In  addition  to  these  salmon  there  are  the  Dolly  Varden 
trout,  which  follow  the  salmon  in  from  the  sea  to  devour  their 
eggs,  and  the  cut-throat  trout,  which  are  often  used  at  the 
canneries. 

Cod   in   Numbers. 

The  cod,  which  abound  in  Chatham  Creek,  are  among  the 
more  important  fish  of  the  ter^tor}^  The  natives  used  to  receive 
two  cents  apiece  for  the  8000  or  10,000  fish  of  five  pound  aver- 
age, which  they  brought  in  daily  from  their  trawls.  The  cod  are 
dried  artificially,  and  an  excellent  quality  of  cod  liver  oil  is  made. 

Herring,  too,  which  have  been  said  to  decide  the  destiny  of 
nations,  also  abound  in  these  waters.  They  come  in  great  shoals 
or  schools,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  record  that  once  in  August  the 
mail  steamer  passed  through  one  school  for  four  hours,  the  water 
being  silvered  as  far  as  could  be  seen  with  the  fish. 

The  natives  do  not  take  the  trouble  to  fish  for  them  in  the  usual 
way  with  the  line  and  hook  or  even  with  nets.  They  simply  rake 
them  out  with  a  lath  set  with  nails,  and  an  Indian  or  two  can 
usually  fill  a  canoe  in  an  hour  or  so.  The  factory  crew  at  Killis- 
snoo  often  gets  from  300  to  600  barrels  of  herring  at  a  single 
haul.  Often  1000  barrels  are  seined  at  once,  and  it  is  not  a 
great  while  since  1 500  barrels  were  taken  by  one  cast  of  the 
seine  in  Sitka  Harbor. 

There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  number  of  people 
engaged  in  the  fisheries  in  1 898  will  be  greater  than  in  any  pre- 
ceeding  year.  As  is  said,  the  fish  come  annually  in  shoals  that 
are  simply  marvelous  in  point  of  extent,  and  are  thus  wholly 
unlike  the  animals  that  for  a  long  time  afforded  a  source  of 
revenue  to  the  hunters  and  trappers. 


331 


332  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

It  may  be  said  here  that  hunting  and  trapping,  while  still  pur- 
sued in  Alaska,  is  in  a  certain  sense,  a  thing  of  the  past.  It  is 
true,  that  the  country  abounds  in  foxes  and  bears  that  make 
trapping  for  a  limited  number  a  remunerative  source  of  employ- 
ment. But  the  work  of  the  Russians  in  the  early  days  of  the 
LOuntr}''s  histor)'  and  of  the  men  employed  by  John  Jacob  Astor, 
has  largely  reduced  the  number  of  animals  which  would  make 
hunting  a  profitable  venture  for  a  great  number.  The  great 
companies  of  the  olden  time  live  now  only  in  recollection,  and 
it  is  thought  there  is  little  prospect  that  their  activities  will  be 
renewed. 

Hunting  for  sport  will  doubtless  for  a  long  time,  claim  atten- 
tion, but,  even  this,  in  the  districts  invaded  by  the  prospectors 
and  miners,  is  likely  to  lose  its  charms,  for  reason  that  the  lack 
of  fresh  meats  in  the  mining  camps  has  virtually  made  every 
miner  and  prospector  a  foe  to  the  animals  whose  flesh  may  be 
used  for  food.  In  whole  sections  of  the  country,  where  claims 
are  now  being  worked,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  find  the  first 
sign  of  game. 

Lumbering  Prospects  Not  Good. 

There  also  seems  to  be  little  prospect  for  a  development  of 
the  lumbering  industry,  since  there  is  a  marked  unwillingness  on 
the  part  of  capitalists  to  invest  money  in  lumbering  camps  and 
machinery  unless  the  timber  possibilities  are  such  as  to  promise 
eood  lumber  in  largre  amounts  and  under  conditions  that  make 
its  handling  not  too  expensive.  This  Alaska  does  not  promise. 
William  Ogilvie,  who  made  a  thorough  investigation  of  what 
may  be  termed  the  timber  lands  of  Alaska,  speaks  discourag- 
ingly  of  the  development  of  the  lumbering  industry.      He  says  : 

"  The  amount  of  timber  fit  for  use  in  building  and  manufac- 
turing in  the  district  along   the   river  is  not  at  all  important. 


INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT.  333 

There  is  a  large  extent  of  forest  wliich  would  yield  firewood  and 
timber  for  use  in  mines,  but  for  the  manufacture  of  lumber  there 
is  very  little. 

"  To  give  an  idea  of  its  scarceness,  I  may  state  that  two  of 
my  party  made  a  thorough  search  of  all  the  timbered  land 
around  the  head  of  Lake  Bennett,  and  down  the  lake  for  over 
ten  miles,  and  in  all  this  search  only  one  tree  was  found  suitable 
for  making  such  plank  as  was  required  for  the  construction  of 
our  large  boat.  This  tree  made  four  planks,  fifteen  inches  wide 
at  the  butt,  seven  at  the  top,  and  thirty-one  feet  long. 

"  Such  other  planks  as  we  wanted  had  to  be  cut  out  of  short 

logs,  of  which  some,  ten  to  fourteen  inches  in  diameter  and  ten 

to  sixteen  feet  long,  could  be  found  at  long  intervals.     The  boat 

required  only  450  feet  of  plank  for  its  construction,  yet  some  of 

the  logs  had  to  be  carried  nearly  200  yards,  and  two  saw-pits 

had  to  be   made   before  that   quantity  was  procured,   and  this 

on  ground  that  was  all  thickly  wooded  with  spruce,  pine,  and 

some  balsam,  the  latter  being  generally  the  largest  and  cleanest- 

trunked. 

Trees  on  the  Islands. 

"  The  great  bulk  of  the  timber  in  the  district  suitable  for 
manufacture  into  lumber  is  to  be  found  on  the  islands  in  the 
river.  On  them  the  soil  is  warmer  and  richer,  the  sun's  rays 
striking  the  surface  for  a  much  longer  time  and  more  directly 
than  on  the  banks. 

"  To  estimate  the  quantity  of  timber  in  the  vicinity  of  the  river 
in  our  territory  would  be  an  impossible  task,  having  only  such 
data  as  I  was  able  to  collect  on  my  waj'  down.  I  would,  how- 
ever, say  that  one-fourth  of  the  area  I  have  given  as  agricultural 
land  would  be  a  fair  conjecture.  This  would  give  us  two  and  a 
half  townships,  or  ninety  square  miles,  of  fairly  well  timbered 
ground  ;  but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  there  is  not  more 


334  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

than  a  square  mile  or  so  of  tliat  in  any  one  place,  and  most  of 
the  timber  would  be  small  and  poor  compared  with  the  timber 
of  Manitoba  and  the  easterly  part  of  the  northwest  Territories. 
"  It  may  be  said  that  the  country  might  furnish  much  timber, 
which,  though  not  fit  to  be  classed  as  merchantable,  would  meet 
many  of  the  requirements  of  the  only  industry'  the  country  is 
ever  likely  to  have,  viz.,  mining." 

Largely  a  Mining  Region. 

The  general  impression  seems  to  be  that,  barring  an  enormous 
fishing  industry,  and  a  possibly  limited  lumbering  trade,  the  country' 
is  destined  to  be  largely  a  mining  region.  Still,  the  necessity  of 
providing  food  for  the  miners  has  forced  upon  the  attention  alike 
of  prospectors  and  capitalists  the  desirability  of  developing  as  far 
as  possible  in  the  frozen  north  some  form  of  agriculture  and  gar- 
dening that  will  obviate  the  necessity  of  the  mining  community 
living  virtually  the  year  round  on  canned  goods  that  are  imported 
from  the  south. 

It  is  true  that  a  large  portion  of  the  Territor\-  is  covered  a 
good  share  of  the  year  with  fields  of  ice  and  snow,  but,  while 
there  is  a  marked  difference  of  opinion,  there  is  ground  for  the 
belief  that  the  country  has  a  future  in  an  agricultural  way  quite 
comparable  with  its  future  in  other  lines.  As  was  shown  in  the 
chapter  on  topography  and  climate,  the  shores  of  Alaska  are 
washed  by  an  ocean  current  that  sweeps  across  the  Pacific  from 
the  coasts  of  Japan,  and,  in  consequence,  southern  Alaska  and 
much  of  the  coast  district  has  a  climate  comparable  with  that 
which  makes,  for  instance,  the  British  Isles  remarkable  for  their 
fertility. 

Sitka  is  no  farther  north  than  Edinburg,  and  the  northern- 
most point  of  Sweden  is  nearer  the  North  Pole  than  the  north- 
ernmost point  of  Alaska.     The  great  warm  current  that  tempers 


TNDUSTRIAT.  DEVELOPMENT.  335 

the  climate  of  the  Alaskan  coast  makes  it,  it  is  claimed  by  many,  a 
country  m  which  agriculture  may  be  followed  as  successfully  as 
in  many  of  the  older  countries  of  the  world,  where  the  climate  is 
not  essentially  different. 

Simply  Lacks  Tilling. 

It  is  claimed  by  many  that  all  that  is  lacking  near  the  coast  is 
for  the  soil  to  be  tilled,  and  that  it  can  be  made  to  produce  prac- 
tically the  same  products  that  grow  in  Norway,  Sweden  and 
Great  Britain.  That  the  extreme  northern  plains,  where  the 
mercury  often  falls  to  80  or  90  degrees  below  zero,  and  where, 
even  in  midsummer,  the  ground  only  thaws  out  two  or  three 
inches,  can  be  transformed  into  an  agricultural  region,  there  are 
few  to  believe.  But  most  people  who  have  visited  the  country 
believe  there  are  fertile  regions  enough  to  support  millions  of 
people. 

Baranof,  in  the  early  days  of  the  Russian  occupation  of  the 
country  cleared  fifteen  kitchen  gardens.  He  ripened  barley  and 
potatoes  and  common  vegetables.  What  is  more,  this  has  been 
done  every  year  since.  If  Alaska  is  a  glacier-abounding  and 
snow-clad  country,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  fine  grasses  spring 
up  naturally  on  any  clearing.  Wild  timothy  and  coarser  grasses 
commonly  grow  from  three  to  four  feet  high,  and  clover  thrives 
about  as  luxuriantly  as  it  does  in  more  southern  latitudes. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  Vancouver  the  natives  cultivate  pota- 
toes and  a  sort  of  tobacco.  Each  family  has  its  little  plantation 
sheltered  away  in  some  nook.  Here  they  plant  their  tubers  and 
sow  their  grain.  Even  in  the  barren  regions  of  the  north,  Daw- 
son City,  Circle  City  and  Klondike,  it  is  a  common  practice  of 
the  miners  to  groAv  turnips  on  the  house  tops.  There  the  sun, 
even  in  the  depth  of  summer,  only  thaws  out  the  ground  two  or 
tliree  inches,  but  by  putting  a  generous  covering  of  soil  on  tlie 


336  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

house  tops,  so  that  it  gets  the  heat  from  the  dwclhng  beneath, 
little  trouble  is  experienced  in  maturing  vegetables.  Apparently 
what  is  lost  in  intensity  of  heat  is  made  up  by  the  length  of  the 
period  which  the  sun  shines. 

Garden  Vegetables   Raised. 

Since  the  United  States  occupation  of  the  country  it  has  been 
a  common  practice  of  residents  in  the  more  settled  parts  to  raise 
radishes,  lettuce,  onions,  cauliflowers,  cabbages,  peas,  turnips, 
beets,  parsnips  and  celery.  Single  potatoes  have  been  produced 
weighing  as  much  as  a  pound  and  five  ounces.  Hay  is  com- 
monly cured  throughout  the  entire  southea-stern  portion  of 
Alaska,  and  this  has  been  done  since  1805.  It  is  said  that  by 
adopting  Norwegian  methods  larger  and  better  crops  could  be 
cured. 

By  way  of  comparison  it  may  be  stated  that  wheat  is  cultivated 
in  Norway  as  far  nortli  as  the  64th  degree  ;  r}'e  as  far  north  as 
the  69th  degree ;  barley  and  oats  as  far  north  as  the  70th  degree. 
Apples,  plums  and  cherries  come  to  maturity  there  up  to  the  64th 
and  65th  degrees,  while  raspberries,  strawberries,  currants  and 
gooseberries  thrive  well  at  the  North  Cape,  which  is  71  degrees 
10  minutes.  It  is  an  often  forgotten  fact  that  throughout  South- 
ern Alaska,  at  least,  there  are  two  or  three  weeks  of  really  hot 
weather,  when  the  mercury  rises  as  high  as  92  degrees. 

Dr.  John  G.  Brady,  a  Presbyterian  missionary  at  Sitka, 
expresses  the  belief  that  the  country  has  an  agricultural  future. 
Says  he  : 

"  The  Kake  Indians  furnished  the  Russians  with  potatoes. 
Some  of  the  natives  at  Wrangel  are  clearing  off  garden  patches 
this  year.  !Much  can  be  done  in  this  direction,  for  Alaska  will 
furnish  vegetables  for  a  teeming  population.  There  are  several 
thousand  acres  in  the    neighborhood   of  this  place   upon  which 


INDUSTRIAL   DEVELOPMENT.  337 

the  finest  vegetables  may  be  raised  with  certainty.  The  soil  foi' 
the  most  part  is  a  vegetable  mould  mixed  with  sand. 

"Mr.  Smiegh,  of  this  place,  has  had  a  garden  for  the  l.ist 
seven  years.  He  says  he  has  grown  cabbages  weighing  twenty- 
seven  pounds.  He  has  tried  peas,  carrots,  leeks,  parsnips,  tur- 
nips, lettuce,  radishes,  onions,  potatoes,  parsley,  celery,  horse 
radish  and  rhubarb.  He  has  also  tried  cucumbers  and  beans, 
but  they  did  not  do  well.  Cauliflowers  and  celery  surpassed 
any  he  raised  in  other  places. 

"  The  wild  black  currants  abound  in  the  woods.  .  The  tame 
currants  do  well.  Gooseberries  do  well  and  have  a  delicate 
flavor.  The  cabbages  grow  wild  and  are  si.x  or  eight  inches  in 
diameter.  Mr.  Burns,  who  has  had  a  garden  for  the  last  three 
years,  agrees  with  Mr.  Smiegh.  The  strawberry  grows  wild 
near  Mount  Edgecombe." 

Missions    in    the    Wilderness. 

Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson,  Commissioner  of  Education,  who  had 
spent  many  years  traveling  the  Alaskan  Territory,  was  asked, 
after  the  Klondike  fever  broke  out  and  the  grave  difficulty  of 
supplying  the  mining  colony  with  suitable  food  became  a  vital 
problem,  of  his  views  of  the  agricultural  possibilities  of  the  coun- 
try. It  was  Dr.  Jackson,  by  the  way,  who,  in  company  with 
Mrs.  McFarland,  took  the  initial  steps  in  establishing  Presbyterian 
mfssions  in  the  wilderness. 

His  residence  in  Alaska  was  protracted  and  his  work  as  a  mis- 
sionary took  him  to  so  many  parts  of  the  country'  that  he  had 
ample  means  to  observe  climatic  conditions  and  the  most  desirable 
places  for  agricultural  enterprise.  He  thoroughly  agreed  with 
those  who  had  the  interest  of  the  miners  at  heart  that  it  was  a 
matter  of  prime  importance  to  take  immediate  steps  for  supple- 
menting the  mining   activities  with    agricultural   enterprises  that 


3:^8  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

woukl  limit  the  possibilities  of  suffering  and  disease.  Said  he  : 
"  The  warmest  friends  of  Alaska  do  not  claim  that  it  is  rich  in 
agricultural  resources,  or  that  it  will  agriculturally  bear  compari- 
son with  the  rich  valleys  of  the  Mississippi  River  ;  but  they  do 
claim,  that  while  there  are  large  areas  of  mountains  and  unpro- 
ductive land  agriculturally,  yet  there  are  valleys  and  plains  where 
with  suitable  care  many  of  the  earlier  vegetables,  fruits  and  grains 

can  be  raised. 

Gardening  is  Common. 

"On  Kadiak,  on  adjacent  islands  and  on  the  shores  of  Cook's 
Inlet,  where  there  are  small  Russian  Creole  settlements,  they 
have  for  three-quarters  of  a  century  supplied  themselves  with 
vegetables  and  potatoes  raised  in  their  own  gardens.  During 
recent  years  the  government  and  mission  teachers  in  Southeast 
Alaska  have  in  some  instances  had  good  vegetable  gardens. 

In  Northern  Alaska,  less  than  lOO  miles  south  of  the  Arctic 
Circle,  the  teachers  of  the  Swedish  Evangelical  mission  at  Un- 
alaska  in  1891  cleared  four  acres  of  ground,  on  which  they  raised 
seventy  bushels  of  potatoes.  As  that  region  has  a  frozen  sub- 
soil covered  with  a  heavy  coating  of  moss,  the  removal  of  the 
moss  and  the  cultivation  of  the  ground  will  cause  the  soil  to 
thaw  out  at  a  greater  depth  than  it  would  otherwise.  So  that 
years  of  cultivation  will  cause  the  ground  to  yield  much  more 
plentifully  than  when  first  cultivated." 

Dr.  Jackson  gave  some  interesting  illustrations  of  experiments 
that  have  been  tried  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  all  going  to 
prove  that,  difficult  and  unsatisfactory  as  agricultural  experiments 
for  a  time  might  be,  they  would  ultimatch'  j^rovc  a  success  and 
be  a  great  blessing.      Continuing  he  said  : 

"jIn  1887,  on  the  site  of  Lake  Labugo,  on  the  headwaters  of 
the  Yukon,  ov^er  2000  miles  from  Behring  Sea,  a  missionary, 
passing  along,  saw  ten  heads  of  volunteer  wheat,  nearly  ripe,  on 


INDUSTRIAL   DEVELOPMENT.  339 

the  twenty-second  of  August,  in  a  place  where  some  miners  had 
camped  the  year  before  and  dropped  the  seed. 

"  Not  only  in  the  mild  belt  of  Southern  Alaska,  but  also  in 
the  Arctic  and  subarctic  belt  of  Northern  Alaska,  various  wild  ber- 
ries grow  and  ripen  in  profusion  (cranberries,  currants,  raspberries, 
huckleberries,  blackberries,  strawberries),  and  there  is  no  ques- 
tion that  if  the  government  places  Alaska  on  an  equal  footing 
with  the  other  States  and  Territories  in  the  establishment  of  one 
or  more  experimental  stations,  it  will  be  demonstrated  that  suffi- 
cient vegetables  can  be  raised  for  the  consumption  of  its  people. 
And  if  there  is  found  a  section  so  far  north  that  the  profitable 
raising  of  vegetables  and  grains  becomes  impossible,  that  region 
can  be  utilized  by  the  introduction  of  herds  of  domestic  reindeer." 

Would  Introduce  Reindeer. 

Dr.  Jackson  is  an  ardent  advocate  of  the  introduction  of  rein- 
deer into  Alaska,  as  a  means  of  solving  the  transit  difficulties. 
Up  to  the  present  time,  practically  the  only  means  of  transporta- 
tion on  lea\ing  the  coast,  is  either  to  go  up  the  rivers  during  the 
brief  summer  months,  or  to  take  the  overland  trails  during  the 
remaining  nine  months  of  the  year,  using  dogs  as  pack  animals, 
and  as  steeds  for  sledges.  On  the  matter  of  introducing  rein- 
deer into  the  country.  Dr.  Jackson  said  : 

"Taking  Nonvay  and  Sweden,  where  complete  statistics  are 
to  be  had,  as  a  basis  of  calculation,  and  applying  the  same  aver- 
age to  Alaska,  it  is  found  the  countr>^  is  capable  of  sustaining 
9,200,000  head  of  reindeer,  which  will  support  a  population  of 
287,500  living  like  the  Laps  of  Lapland. 

"  The  stocking  of  Alaska  with  tame  reindeer  means  the  open- 
ing up  of  the  vast  and  almost  inaccessible  central  region  of 
Northern  and  Central  Alaska  to  white  settlers  and  civilization, 
und  the  opening  up  of  a  vast  commercial  industry. 


340  INDUSTRIAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

"  Lapland,  with  400,000  reindeer,  supplies  the  grocery  stores 
of  northern  Europe  with  smoked  reindeer  hams,  smoked  tongues, 
dried  and  tanned  hides,  and  23,000  carcasses  per  annum  to  the 
butcher  shoj^s.  On  the  same  basis,  Alaska,  with  its  capacity  for 
9,200,000  head  of  reindeer,  can  supply  the  markets  of  North 
America  with  500,000  carcasses  of  venison  annually,  together 
with  tons  of  delicious  hams  and  tongues  and  finest  leather. 
Surely  the  creation  of  an  industry'  worth  from  ;^8 3, 000,000  to 
$100,000,000  where  none  now  exists  is  worthy  the  attention  of 
th^  American  people." 

Testimony  of  Mr.  Ogilvie. 

The  testimony  of  William  Ogilvie,  who  made  an  official  report 
to  the  Dominion  Government  of  the  characteristics  of  the  coun- 
ti}-,  its  resources  and  its  possibilities,  is  of  importance,  and  ex- 
tracts are  here  given  from  that  portion  of  the  report  bearing 
upon  feasibility  of  agricultural  enterprises.  Mr.  Ogilvie  is  not  an 
enthusiast,  and  his  statements  may  be  taken  as  an  impartial 
account  of  the  country  by  one  who,  trained  in  methods  of  obser- 
vation, combines  good  judgment  with  the  expedients  of  enforced 
policy.     As  to  the  Yukon  River  and  its  valley  Mr.  Ogilvie  says  : 

"The  agricultural  capabilities  of  the  country  along  the  river 
are  not  great,  nor  is  the  land  that  can  be  seen  from  the  river  of 
good  quality.  When  we  consider  further  the  unsuitable  climatic 
conditions  that  prevail  in  that  region,  it  may  be  said  that  as  an 
agricultural  district  this  portion  of  the  countr}'  will  never  be  of 
any  value. 

"  Many  meteorological  records  show  over  8  degrees  of  frost 
on  Augu.st  1st,  over  10  on  the  third,  and  four  times  during  the 
month  the  minimum  temperature  was  below  freezing. 

"Along  the  east  side  of  Lake  Bennett,  opposite  the  Chilkoot 
or  western  arm,  there  are  some  flats  of  dry,  gravelly  soil,  which 


INDUSTRIAL   DEVELOPMENT.  841 

« 
would  make  a  few  farms  of  limited  extent.     On  the  west  side, 

around  the  mouth  of  the  Wheaton  River,  there  is  an  extensive 
flat  of  sand  and  gravel,  covered  with  small  pine  and  spruce  of 
stunted  growth. 

Coarse   Grass   for  Cattle. 

"Along  the  western  shore  of  Tagish  Lake  there  is  a  large 
extent  of  low,  swampy  flats,  a  part  of  which  might  be  used  for 
the  production  of  such  roots  and  cereals  as  the  climate  would 
permit.  Along  the  west  side  of  Marsh  Lake  there  is  also  much 
flat  surface  of  the  same  general  character,  on  which  I  saw  some 
coarse  grass  which  would  serve  as  food  for  cattle.  Along  the 
east  side  the  surface  appeared  higher  and  terraced,  and  is 
probably  less  suited  to  the  requirements  of  the  agriculturist. 

"Along  the  head  of  the  river  for  some  miles  below  Marsh 
Lake,  there  are  flats  on  both  sides,  which  would,  as  far  as  surface 
conformation  goes,  serve  as  farms.  The  soil  is  of  much  better 
quality  than  any  heretofore  seen,  as  is  proved  by  the  larger  and 
thicker  growth  of  timber  and  underbrush  which  it  supports. 
The  soil  bears  less  the  character  of  detritus,  and  more  that  of 
alluvium,  than  that  seen  above. 

"  Some  miles  down  the  lake  an  extensive  valley  joins  that  of 
the  lake  an  the  west  side.  This  valley  contains  a  small  stream. 
Around  this  place  there  is  some  land  that  might  be  useful,  as  the 
grass  and  vegetation  is  much  better  than  any  seen  so  far. 

On  the  lower  end  of  the  lake,  on  the  west  side,  there  is  also  a' 
considerable  plain  which  might  be  utilized  ;  the  soil  in  parts  of  it 
is  good.  I  saw  one  part  where  the  timber  had  been  burned 
some  time  ago  ;  here  both  the  soil  and  vegetation  were  good, 
and  two  or  three  of  the  plants  seen  are  common  in  this  part  of 
Ontario,  but  they  had  not  the  vigorous  appearance  which  the 
same  plants  have  here." 

Mr.  Ogilvie  had   not  a   little  to  say  on  the   forestation   of  the 


342  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

country  and  its  possibilities  in  the  line  of  lumber.  Speaking  of 
the  timber  lands  in  the  district  considered  in  the  passage  just 
quoted,  he  says : 

"  Northward  from  the  end  of  the  lake  there  is  a  deep,  wide 
valley,  which  Dr.  Dawson  has  named  '  Ogilvie  Valley.'  In  this 
the  mixed  timber,  poplar  and  spruce,  is  of  a  size  which  betokens 
a  fair  soil ;  the  herbage,  too,  is  more  than  usually  rich  for  this 
region.  This  valley  is  extensive,  and,  if  ever  required  as  an  aid 
in  the  sustenance  of  our  people,  will  figure  largely  in  the  district's 
agricultural  assets. 

"  Below  the  lake  the  valley  of  the  river  is  not  as  a  rule  wide, 
and  the  banks  are  often  steep  and  high.  There  are,  liowever, 
many  flats  of  moderate  extent  along  the  river  and  at  its  con- 
fluence with  other  streams.      The  soil  of  many  of  these  is  fair. 

"About  forty  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  Pelly  River  there 
is  an  extensive  flat  on  both  sides  of  the  Lewis.  The  soil  here  is 
poor  and  sandy,  with  small  open  timber.  At  Pelly  River  there 
is  a  flat  of  considerable  extent  on  which  the  ruins  of  Fort  Selkirk 
stand.  It  is  covered  with  a  small  growth  of  poplar  and  a  few 
spruce.  The  soil  is  a  gravelly  loam  of  about  eight  inches  in 
depth,  the  subsoil  being  gravel,  evidently  detritus.  This  flat  ex- 
tends up  the  river  for  some  miles,  but  is  all  covered  thickly  with 
timber,  except  a  small  piece  around  the  site  of  the  fort." 

An  Experimental  Station. 

There  is  every  likelihood  to  believe  that  in  the  near  future  the 
United  States  government  will  have  an  agricultural  experimental 
station  in  the  valley  of  the  Yukon.  The  desirability  of  such  an 
experimental  farm  growing  out  of  the  necessities  and  the  hardships 
of  the  mining  populace  was  suggested  by  P.  B.  Weare,  of  the 
North  American  Transportation  and  Trading  Company.  A 
meeting  was  held  in  Chicago  early  in  August,  1897,  at  which 


INDUSTRIAL  DEVEL0PMP:NT.  343 

the  development  of  the  agricultural  resources  of  Alaska  was  ex- 
haustively discussed. 

Secretary  Wilson  was  present  and  pledged  himself  to  work  for 
the  immediate  establishment  of  such  an  experimental  govern- 
mental farm  in  the  Yukon  valley.  He  expressed  it  as  his  belief 
that  there  would  be  little  trouble  in  getting  Congress  to  appro- 
priate at  least  515,000  for  this  purpose.  So  far  as  he  knew, 
there  was  no  reason  why  a  trial  in  the  line  of  developing  agri- 
cultural industries  in  Alaska  should  not  be  made  early  in  the 
spring  of  1898. 

]\Ir.  Weare's  plan  contemplates  the  sending  of  a  body  of  ex- 
perienced farmers  from  the  older  and  better  settled  States,  and 
putting  into  their  hands  every  possible  means  for  testing  what  can 
be  done  in  raising  grains,  fruits  and  vegetables.  Secretary  Wilson 
was  entirely  in  accord  with  Mr.  Weare,  and  the  belief  was  ex- 
pressed that  within  a  few  }'ears  there  will  be  thousands  of  acres 
under  cultivation  at  no  great  distance  from  the  gold  fields  in  the 
Yukon  valley. 

Views  Thought  Utopian. 

Many  to  whom  this  plan  of  establishing  a  government  farm 
was  broached  .  thought  the  views  of  Mr.  Weare  and  Secretary 
Wilson  a  little  too  Utopian.  They  thought  it  might  be  possible 
to  make  a  great  success  of  farming  in  Southern  Alaska,  say,  in 
the  neighborhood  Of  Sitka,  but  considered  that  the  climate  was 
too  rigorous  and  the  summer  season  too  short  for  farming  to  be 
a  success  along  the  Yukon  and  Klondike  rivers.  It  was  generally 
conceded,  however,  that  it  would  be  a  long  step  tow'ards  the 
solution  of  the  food  problem  if  agriculture  could  be  developed  to 
a  large  extent  in  tlie  southern  portion  of  the  territory,  so  that 
the  matter  of  transporting  provisions  to  the  camps  would  not  be 
so  cost!)'. 

After  the    decision  to    establish   the  experimental    farm    had 


344  INDUSTRIAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

been  made,  Secretary  Wilson  expressed  himself  as  follows : 
"  I  am  greatly  interested  in  the  development  of  Alaska.  With 
the  aid  of  three  experienced  men,  who  are  now  in  the  Yukon 
country,  the  Department  of  Agriculture  is  making  extensive  in- 
vestigations, with  a  view  of  learning  the  value  of  the  agricultural 
resources  of  the  principal  valleys,  and  it  is  certain  an  experi- 
mental farm  will  be  established  within  a  year  near  the  junction 
of  the  Yukon    and  Tanano    rivers,  or  in  some   other  favorable 

location." 

Projects  of  Individuals. 

The  same  all-important  work  which  the  United  States  govern- 
ment will  take  upon  its  hands  and  push  will  probably  receive 
great  assistance  from  private  enterprises.  Scarcely  had  the 
Klondike  fever  broken  out,  and  reports  as  to  the  difficulty  of  get- 
ting good  wholesome  food  at  the  mining  camps  had  been  brought 
south,  when  Swan  Frederickson,  a  hardy  Norseman,  who  had 
served  for  years  with  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  came  forward 
with  a  proposition  for  a  company  to  be  called  The  Alaska  Set- 
tlement Company,  whose  aim  it  should  be  to  encourage  imigra- 
tion  and  foster  agriculture  in  the  country  immediately  south  of 
the  Yukon. 

Frederickson  said  that  he  had  lived  too  long  in  Alaska  not  to 
know  what  he  was  about,  and  that  he  was  satisfied  that  with 
ample  capital  and  judicious  methods  of  procedure  the  population 
of  the  territory  could  be  greatly  increased  and  thousands  of  acres, 
that  now  are  of  no  use  whatever,  could  be  reclaimed  and  made 
to  subserve  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  the  people.  He  said 
it  only  wanted  pluck,  enterprise  and  perseverance  to  make  Alaska 
from  the  southern  limit  virtually  to  the  Yukon  River  one  of  the 
happiest  agricultural  regions  in  America. 

With  a  capital  of  $100,000  Frederickson  is  positive  he  can 
start  some  thrifty  settlements  of  Norsemen  farmers,  and  the  com- 


INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT.  345 

pany  will  make  plenty  of  money  by  a  monopoly  of  town  site 
and  commercial  privileges.  He  insists  that  a  good  business  can 
be  done  in  raising  beef,  mutton,  hardy  vegetables  and  horse  fod- 
der for  the  thousands  of  miners  who  arc  pouring  into  Alaska. 
The  number  to  be  fed  will  increase  rapidly  from  now  on,  and 
Frederickson  waxes  enthusiastic  in  discussing  the  possibilities  of 
his  scheme  ;  but  there  is  no  capital  yet  in  sight  for  starting  the 
work. 

Farming  Not  Enticing. 

Farming  in  Alaska  does  not  sound  like  a  particularly  enticing 
proposition,  but  there  arc  other  enthusiasts  besides  Frederickson 
who  are  pushing  the  idea.  They  not  only  maintain  that  grains 
and  grasses  can  be  raised  in  some  parts  of  the  Territory,  but 
even  talk  about  vegetables  and  fruits.  What's  more,  they  quote 
Joaquin  Miller's  letters  in  support  of  their  scheme. 

Ranch  booming  in  southern  California  in  its  palmiest  days 
never  had  more  earnest  advocates  than  these  men  who  are  tr}'- 
ing  to  develop  the  agricultural  and  horticultural  possibilities  of 
Alaska.  They  have  no  land  to  sell  there,  but  they  want  to  go 
into  the  farming  business  under  the  shade  of  Mount  St.  Elias  or 
some  other  favored  spot,  and  would  like  some  capital  to  make  a 
start  on,  with  big  profits  later  on  for  all  interested  parties. 

As  a  berry-growing  region  Alaska  has  greater  promise  than 
would  be  supposed  for  a  country  part  of  which  lies  beyond  the 
Arctic  Circle.  At  present  it  is  reported  there  is  but  one  fruit 
tree  growing  in  that  climate,  it  being  a  wild  crabapple,  which  is 
not  palatable.  Whether  or  not  the  hardier  forms  of  apples 
growing  in  the  Northern  States  will  thrive  and  the  fruit  come  to 
maturity  on  the  prairies  along  the  Yukon  is  a  question.  But  a 
great  variety  of  berries  do  grow,  and  many  of  them  grow  wild. 

Strawberries,  cranberries,  gooseberries,  raspberries  and  huckle- 
berries not  infrequently  attain  great  size.     A  berry  unknown  in 


346  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

southern  regions,  the  roseberry,  which  grows  on  a  species  of 
rosebush,  abounds  in  the  Alaskan  valleys.  These  berries  are 
said  to  be  delicious.  They  grow  in  large  quantities  in  Russia, 
where  the  natives  make  preserves  that  they  prize  most  highly. 
For  some  time  large  invoices  of  cranberries  grown  in  Alaska 
have  been  received  and  sold  in  the  markets  of  San  Francisco. 

It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  when  small  fruits  grow  wild  in 
such  abundance  they  can  be  easily  cultivated  and  produce  a 
profitable  crop.  Indeed,  it  is  believed  that  more  money  can  be 
made  in  raising  berries  there  than  in  mining  gold — at  all  events 
there  is  less  risk  of  loss.  Turnips,  radishes,  potatoes,  and  cab- 
bages can  be  raised  in  the  climate,  it  is  believed. 

Industries  Largely  Transformed. 

An  enterprise  was  proposed  early  in  August,  1897,  with  the 
purpose  of  making  the  raising  of  dogs  a  distinct  and  separate 
enterprise  or  industry  in  Alaska,  somewhat  on  the  line  of  Dr. 
Jackson's  proposition  to  introduce  reindeer  as  a  means  of  solving 
the  transportation  problem.  The  enterprise  grew  out  of  the 
scarcity  of  sledge  dogs  on  the  overland  routes. 

A  kennel  owner  offered  to  furnish  a  stock  of  draft  dogs  and 
take  in  payment  part  cash  and  the  rest  in  the  stock  of  the  com- 
pany which  he  proposed  to  organize.  There  was  no  intention  of 
introducing  any  of  the  breeds  of  dogs  commonly  found  in  the 
Southern  States.  These  it  was  said  would  be  wholly  worthless 
for  the  purpose  for  which  animals  are  needed  in  Alaska.  On  the 
contrary,  dogs  used  in  Siberia  and  other  countries  too  cold  for 
horses,  would  be  imported  and  bred  in  such  numbers  as  to  sup- 
ply the  demand  and  make  the  enterprise  a  success  from  a  finan- 
cial standpoint. 

Short  as  is  the  history  of  Alaska,  it  will  be  seen  that  its  indus- 
tries and  its  commercial  enterprises  have  been  practically  trans- 


INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT.  347 

formed  since  the  first  days  of  Russian  occupation,  and  it  will 
also  be  seen  that  there  is  every  prospect  that  the  transformation 
will  be  still  greater  during  the  two  or  three  years,  following  the 
discovery  of  gold  in  the  Yukon  Valley.  Of  the  first  commer- 
cial enterprises  carried  on  in  the  country  practically  only  one 
survives  to-day  in  a  hopeful  and  remunerative  way.  Seal  fishing, 
as  has  been  shown,  has  had  its  day  of  rise  and  decadence.  The 
time  was  when  hundreds  of  thousands  of  valuable  skins  in 
periods  of  glutted  market  were  thrown  into  the  sea  for  the  mere 
purpose  of  keeping  up  the  prices.  To-day  w^hile  sealing  is  still 
carried  on,  it  is  carried  on  in  a  way  so  limited  as  to  contrast 
strangely  with  the  former  days  of  intense  activity  in  this  industry. 

The    Seal    Fisheries. 

The  same  is  true  of  hunting  and  trapping  on  the  mainland. 
The  )'early  output  is  now  in  no  wise  comparable  w^ith  that  of  the 
palmy  days  of  the  Russian  Fur  Company  and  the  American  Fur 
Company.  The  falling  away  in  sealing  is  due  to  the  wholesale 
slaughter  of  the  animals,  for  whose  preservation  the  Gov^ernment 
was  obliged  to  take  the  strictest  measures.  It  is  altogether 
probable  that  with  a  wise  policy  in  limiting  the  number  of  seals 
killed  for  their  furs,  sealing  may  in  future  years  be  as  profitable 
as  ever.  It  is  not  deemed  probable  that  hunting  and  trapping 
wild  animals  on  the  mainland  for  their  furs  will  ever  be  what  it 
once  was. 

The  fishing  industry  on  the  coast  and  along  the  rivers  is 
bound,  it  is  said,  to  continue,  not  merely  holding  its  own,  but 
developing  into  ever  increasing  enterprises.  There  is  much 
to  be  hoped  for  in  the  timber  districts,  for  despite  the  adverse 
reports  that  have  been  made  on  the  forestation  of  the  country-, 
it  must  be  remembered  that  there  are  whole  regions  where 
the  white  man   has  scarcely  set  foot.       What   these  unknown 


348  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

regions  may  contain  is  now  a  mere  matter  of  conjecture.  The 
history  of  lumbering  in  the  United  States  shows  that  this  industr)^ 
is  a  mere  growth  dependent  upon  exploration  and  subsequent 
enterprise.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  lumbering  in  the  wilds  of 
Alaska  will  develop  into  something  which  even  the  most  sanguine 
to-day  little  suspect. 

Mining    and  Agriculture. 

In  view  of  the  excitement  incident  to  the  discoveiy  of  gold  in 
the  Yukon  Valley  and  the  impetus  it  has  given,  not  merely  to 
the  work  of  prospectors  and  miners,  but  to  that  of  scientific 
investigators,  the  probability  is  that  the  leading  industry  of  Alaska 
for  many  years  to  come  will  be  that  of  mining.  And  directly 
connected  with  and  dependent  upon  it,  there  is  likelihood  also  of 
a  marked  development  of  agricultural  pursuits. 

Until  early  in  1897,  when  travelers  returned  from  Alaska  and 
were  asked  what  the  chief  occupations  of  the  people  were,  they 
would  say,  of  course,  fishing  and  hunting.  But  the  mere  fortu- 
nate discovery  of  golden  treasure  in  the  ground  will  likely  give 
a  new  trend  to  the  entire  development  of  the  country.  To  shoot 
and  trap  and  fish  was  naturally  both  the  amusement  and  the 
employment  of  the  Indians  and  Esquimeaux  and  such  white 
men  as  ventured  into  the  country  on  trips  of  exploration. 

But  with  the  white  man  as  a  hunter  for  gold  instead  of  for 
animals,  it  was  a  different  matter.  He  came,  he  saw,  he  dug, 
and  in  digging  he  found  riches.  The  glittering  gold  greeted  his 
eyes  and  the  fever  of  gold  fell  upon  the  whole  country.  It  is 
the  common  belief  that  this  malady,  engendered  by  good  fortune, 
will  shape  the  destinies  of  Alaska,  and  transform  it  from  an 
unknown  wilderness  of  plains  and  valleys  and  mountain  peaks 
and  glaciers  into  one  of  the  most  remarkable  and  important 
minine:  and  aszHcultural  regions  of  the  world. 


CHAITKR   XII. 
Resources  and   Wealth. 

Record  as  a  Fur  Country — State  of  Development  Twenty  Years  Ago — How 
the  Golden  Treasures  were  Discovered  and  Developed — Report  of  Geo- 
logical Survey  Expert  Spurr — Professor  Elliott's  Review — Alaska  Richer 
than  Klondike — West  of  the  Coast  Range — Mint  Director  Preston's 
Views — United  States  Leads  the  World  in  Gold  Production — From  the 
Alaska  Mining  Record — Value  of  Yukon  Gold — Cook's  Inlet  Diggings 
— Some  Scattered  Streaks — Experts  in  the  Field — John  W.  Mackey 
Quoted — Other   Mineral   Resources — Canadian  Report. 

JN  1 867  most  people  who  freed  their  minds  had  only  hard 
things  to  say  of  "  Russian  America,"  which  the  policy  of 
William  H.  Seward  had  just  incorporated  in  the  territorial 
area  of  the  United  States.  Seven  millions,  even  in  those  days  of 
"  war  prices,"  seemed  a  large  sum  to  throw  away,  and  all  but  a  few 
long-headed  men  regarded  as  clearly  thrown  away  money  used 
to  acquire  that  reputed  ice -locked  land  of  bergs  and  glaciers. 
They  were  certain  no  good  thing  could  come  out  of  it,  and  their 
expectations  of  returns  on  the  nation's  investment  were  circum- 
scribed by  estimates  of  the  interest  on  the  purchase  price  which 
the  fur  industr}'  would  probably  pay.  That  there  was  or  ever 
would  be  anything  in  the  "  great  country"  except  fur,  was  not  a 
canon  of  the  popular  faith.  And  faith  was  the  largest  ingredient 
in  the  logic  with  which  Seward  supported  his  project — faith  in 
the  still  hidden  treasures  of  that  vast  terra  incognita,  which,  it 
seems,  has  waited  thirty  years  for  justification. 

Repellant  to  the  immigrant  as  Alaska  has  seemed  for  most 
of  three  decades,  it  would  appear  likely  that  the  region  is  about  to 
be  shown  as  one  of  the  rich  areas  of  the  nation.  The  gold 
craze  on  the  Canadian  Klondike  has  not  only  served  to  stimulate 
the  news  of  other  gold  discoveries  in  the  adjacent  United  States 

34i) 


350  RESOURCES   AND   WEALTH. 

territory,  but  has  brought  to  light  before  the  pubHc  the  existence 
of  other  wealth  producing  resources  within  the  old  Russian 
colony  which  have  hitherto  been  known  or  guessed  at  only  by  a 
few,  and  wliich  promise  well  for  development. 

What  arc  the  resources  of  Alaska  ? 

First,  of  course,  in  present  importance  are  the  mineral  deposits 
and  here  gold  is  at  the  head  of  the  list.  There  is  silver,  too,  as 
usual,  associated  with  the  more  precious  metal.  Besides  these 
there  are  copper,  iron,  lead,  plumbago,  marble,  coal,  sulphur, 
bismuth,  kaolin  fireclay,  gypsum  and  petroleum. 

Allied  to  these  minerals  are  many  gems,  among  them  the 
famous  Alaskan  diamonds,  garnets,  amethysts,  zeolites,  agates 
and  cornelians.  Fossil  ivory  is  frequently  found,  and  it  has  been 
claimed  by  scientific  men  that  the  ivory  finds  in  the  frost  beds  of 
Siberia  might  probably  be  duplicated  in  Alaska  as  the  result  of 
systematic  prospecting  for  these  treasures  of  extinct  pachyderms. 

Vegetable  and  Animal. 
The  resources  of  Alaska  in  the  vegetable  kingdom  cover  a 
Tong  list  of  valuable  woods,  the  cedars  especially  being  unsur- 
passed. Small  fruits  are  plentiful  in  the  southeastern  or  Sitkan 
portion,  and  experiments  within  a  few  years  give  hopes  that 
ao-riculture  and  stock-raising  are  not  impossible  industries,  but 
they  lack  the  confirmation  of  extensive  experience. 

In  the  animal  kingdom  furs  from  amphibious  and  land  animals 
are  the  principal  sources  oi  wealth.  The  whale  fisheries  have 
hitherto  been  profitable  industries,  but  the  extermination  of  the 
"  rio-ht  "  whale  by  the  hunters  and  the  market  for  oil  and  "  bone  " 
have  latterly  reduced  the  value  of  this  industry  as  a  resource.  The 
salmon,  which  abound  in  Alaskan  waters,  have  developed  two  great 
industries  in  canning  and  salting,  and  the  cod  fisheries  on  the  great 
banks  along  the  Aleutian  chain  are  important.     There  are  many 


RESOURCES    AND   WEALTH.  .J'/i 

other  food  fishes,  also,  ample  for  local  consumption,  but  of  a  com- 
mercial value  not  yet  ascertained.  It  has  been  said  there  is 
"more  fish  than  water  in  Alaska;"  but  this  may  be  taken  as 
hyperbole.  As  to  the  food  animals,  a  project  is  under  way  to 
introduce  reindeer  into  the  country  for  the  value  there  may  be 
in  their  hides  and  meat,  but  the  scheme  is  still  in  the  experi- 
mental stage. 

In  any  estimate  of  either  the  resources  or  the  native  and 
natural  wealth  of  Alaska,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  no 
systematic  development  has  yet  taken  place  along  any  lines 
except  the  fur  and  salmon  industries.  Except  in  the  Sitkan 
region,  the  exploitation  of  the  gold  area  has  been  more  acci- 
dental than  designed,  and  comparatively  no  attention  has  been 
paid  to  the  other  minerals.  There  are  no  statistics  from  which 
to  compile  comparative  tables,  and  all  statements  must  perforce 
partake  of  the  nature  of  generalities.  The  Russians  had  no  use 
for  Alaska  except  for  its  furs,  and  for  ten  years  after  the  terri- 
tory had  passed  from  the  dominion  of  the  double-headed  eagle 
to  that  of  the  one-headed  bird  of  Uncle  Sam  the  new  owners' 
had  no  definite  idea  that  they  had  bought  anything  more  valu- 
able than  fur  seals  and  sea  otters. 

Twenty  Years  Ago. 

In  1 877  Henry  W.  ElUott  wrote  as  follow^s  of  the  new  Territory : 
"  At  present,  however,  beyond  the  fur  trade,  there  is  nothing 
doing  whatever  in  Alaska — no  settlers,  no  mines,  no  mills.  If 
we  ever  utilize  the  spruce  and  fir  timber  on  the  Sitka  coast  we 
must  encourage  and  foster  the  effort  in  the  line  of  ship-building, 
for  this  timber  is  too  gummy  and  resinous  for  the  ordinary  use 
of  house-building  and  furniture-making.  If  gold  or  silver  is  dis- 
covered in  Alaska  it  must  be  of  unusual  richness,  or  it  will  never 
support  any  considerable  body  of  men   up  there,  so   fir  awa\- 


3rr2  RESOURCES   AND   WEALTH. 

from   the   sources    of   necessary   supj)!}'.      The    rejjuted   Alaska 
gold  mines  are  not  in  Alaska  at  all." 

Mr.  I'Jliott  was  a  noted  and  shrewd  observer,  and  he  had  had 
ten  years  acquaintance  with  Alaska,  but  Birch  Creek  and  Forty- 
Mile  were  then  unheard  of,  and  even  the  auriferous  riches  of 
Douglas  Island  were  not  dreamed  of. 

Gold  on  Douglas  Island. 

Gold-bearing  rock  was  discovered  on  Douglas  Island  in  1880, 
and  the  next  year  the  famous  Treadwell  mine  was  located  there 
in  the  largest  solid  body  of  ore  on  the  Coast.  The  deposit  is  a 
mountain  of  gold-bearing  quartz,  worked  from  the  surface  like 
an  ordinary  stone  quarry.  The  ore  only  runs  from  three  dollars 
to  seven  dollars  to  the  ton,  but  as  it  costs  one  dollar  and  a  quar- 
ter or  less  a  ton  to  mill  it,  the  property  is  considered  one  of  the 
most  profitable  mines  in  the  world.  The  largest  stamp  mill  in 
the  world,  running  240  stamps,  handles  the  output. 

Following  the  location  of  the  Treadwell  mines  other  gold 
areas  were  discovered,  and  it  soon  became  well  known  on  the 
coast  that  there  was  yellow  dust  in  many  portions  of  the  "Pan- 
Handle,"  and  also  in  the  Yukon  Basin,  though  the  rigor  of  the 
climate  and  the  remoteness  of  the  diggings  from  bases  of  sup- 
plies long  kept  the  country  from  being  developed  in  response  to 
the  impulse  of  the  discoveries. 

Then  came  the  placers  around  Circle  City  and  Fort  Cudahy, 
and  hard  after  them  the  marvelous  strikes  in  the  Klondike  just 
across  the  border,  and  the  golden  future  of  Alaska  was  an  estab- 
lished fact. 

The  report  on  the  Yukon  gold  region  by  Josiah  Edward 
Spurr,  the  geological  survey  expert,  who  headed  a  party  that 
made  a  thorough  investigation  in  Alaska  last  summer,  gives  new 
facts  about  the  interioi'.      It  says  as  to  the  Fort}'-Mile  gold  dis- 


RESOURCES   AND    WEALTH.  353 

trict  that  in  the  latter  part  of  1887  gold  was  struck  in  Franklin 
Gulch,  and  ever  since  it  has  been  a  constant  payer.  The  dis- 
covery of  Davis  Creek  and  a  stampede  from  Franklin  Gulch 
followed  in  the  spring  of  1888.  In  1891  gold  mining  in  the 
interior,  as  well  as  on  the  coast,  at  Silver  Bow  Basin  and  Tread- 
well,  received  a  great  impetus.  The  event  of  1892  was  the 
discovery  of  Miller  Creek.  In  the  spring  of  1893  many  new 
claims  were  staked,  and  it  is  estimated  that  eighty  men  took  out 
;^  1 00,000.  Since  then  Miller  Creek  has  been  the  heaviest  pro- 
ducer of  the  Forty-Mile  district,  and  until  recently  of  the  whole 
Yukon.  Its  entire  length  lies  in  British  possessions.  The  output 
for  1893,  as  given  by  the  Mint  Director,  for  the  Alaskan  creeks, 
all  but  Miller  Creek  being  in  American  possessions,  was  $198,000, 
with  a  mining  population  of  196. 

The  total  amount  produced  by  the  Yukon  placers  in  1894  was 
double  that  of  the  previous  year.  In  1895  the  output  had 
doubled  again. 

Forty-Mile  district  in  the  summer  of  1896  is  described  in  the 
report  as  looking  as  if  it  had  seen  its  best  days,  and  unless 
several  new  creeks  are  discovered  it  will  lose  its  old  position. 

Large  Profits  Reported. 

The  Birch  Creek  district  was  last  summer  in  a  flourishing 
condition.  Most  of  the  gulches  were  then  running,  miners  were 
working  on  double  shifts,  night  and  day,  and  many  large  profits 
were  reported.  On  Mastadon  Creek,  the  best  producer,  over 
thirty  miners  w^ere  at  work,  many  expecting  to  winter  in  the 
gulch.  As  to  hydraulicking,  the  report  says  :  "  Some  miners 
have  planned  to  work  this  and  other  good  ground  supposed  to 
exist  under  the  deep  covering  of  moss  and  gravel  in  the  wide 
valley  of  the  Mammoth  and  Crooked  creeks  by  hydraulicking, 
Ihe  water  to  be  obtained  by  tapping  Miller  and  Mastadon  creeks 


354  RESOURCES  AND   WEALTH. 

near  the  head.  It  will  be  several  years  before  the  scheme  can 
be  operated,  because  both  of  the  present  gulches  are  paying  well 
and  will  continue  do  so  for  at  least  five  years." 

Expert  Spurr's  report  on  the  Klondike  district  is  as  follows  : 
"  With  the  announcement  of  gold  here  in  the  winter  of  1 896— 
97  there  was  a  genuine  stampede  to  the  new  region.  Forty- 
Mile  was  almost  deserted.  But  350  men  spent  the  winter  on 
the  Klondike,  in  the  gulches  and  at  the  new  town  of  Dawson. 
The  more  important  parts  of  the  district  are  on  the  Bonanza  and 
Hunker  creeks.  According  to  the  latest  information  400  claims 
have  been  located  up  to  January  i,  1897  ;  about  half  as  many  on 
Hunker  Creek.  There  is  plenty  of  room  for  many  more  pros- 
pectors and  miners,  for  the  gulches  and  creeks  which  have 
shown  good  prospects  spread  over  an  area  of  700  square  miles. 
The  estimated  Alaskan  gold  production  for  1896  is  ;^  1,400,000. 

Professor  Elliott  Again. 

It  is  interesting  at  this  point  to  see  how  Professor  Elliott's 
views  have  changed  between  1877  and  1897.  Here  is  what  he 
said  last  summer  of  Alaska  : 

"  My  experience  in  the  Klondike  region  leads  me  to  believe 
that  while  there  is  considerable  gold  in  the  crevices  and  along 
the  rivers,  washed  down  for  ages  from  the  mountains  by  attri- 
tion and  the  glacial  displacements,  the  '  pockets '  in  which  large 
quantities  are  to  be  found,  including  nuggets  and  much  pure 
gold,  are  comparatively  few.  One  man  may  find  a  '  pocket,' 
and  get  thousands  from  it,  while  hundreds  of  others  may  toil 
near  by  for  a  few  dollars'  worth  of  metal  a  day.  I  understand 
there  are  now  about  7,000  people  in  the  Klondike  region  seek- 
ing for  gold,  while  hundreds  of  others  are  flocking  there  as  fast 
as  possible.  Mark  my  word,  you  will  hear  of  a  lot  of  disgusted 
men  returning  to  the  States  next  spring,  having  failed  to  '  strike 


RESOURCES   AND    WEALTH.  355 

it  rich,'  as  they  had  hoped.  I  would  advise  no  man  who  is  estab- 
lished in  business  here,  who  is  married,  or  who  has  any  respon- 
sibility resting  upon  him,  to  go  to  the  new  gold  fields. 

"Alaska  is  a  healthful  country,  there  being  no  malaria  or 
mountain  fever.  A  curious  fact  is  that  any  one  afflicted  with 
neuralgia  or  rheumatism  is  completely  cured  of  it  in  that  cli- 
mate. The  clear,  dry  atmosphere  and  the  rapid  changes  of  the 
body's  tissues  doubtless  account  for  this.  One's  appetite  is  tre- 
mendous in  that  climate.  A  man  will  eat  four  times  as  much 
food  as  he  does  here  and  not  feel  uncomfortable. 

"  There  is  plenty  of  fuel,  poplar,  beech  and  fir  trees  lining 
the  numerous  streams.  Of  course,  the  culling  and  hauling  of 
timber  make  it  very  expensive.  Houses  are  nothing  but  log 
huts,  two  or  three  feet  of  which  are  below  ground,  with  earth 
banked  about  the  sides  and  even  over  the  roofs.  Eight  or  ten 
miners  will  lie  down  to  sleep  on  the  rude  bunks  within  these 
cabins,  wrapped  in  their  heavy  blankets," 

Alaska  Richer  than  Klondike. 

A  scientific  expert  of  the  Coast  Survey,  who  knows  what  he 
is  talking  about  from  experience,  believes  Alaska  is  richer  than 
the  Klondike.     He  sums  up  his  reasons  thus  : 

"A  study  of  the  map  convinces  me  that  the  greater  part  of  the 
gold  fields  of  the  extreme  Northwest  will  finally  be  found  within 
the  limits  of  our  territory.  I  went  through  Alaska  as  a  member 
of  the  boundary  commission,  and  am  very  familiar  with  the  valley 
of  the  Yukon  and  the  surrounding  country.  The  greatest  activity 
in  placer  mining  is  now  in  the  British  possessions,  about  forty 
miles  east  of  the  141st  meridian,  which  is  our  boundary.  But  if 
you  look  at  the  map  and  see  where  gold  has  been  found,  you 
will  observe  that  all  the  lodes  seem  to  lead  into  Alaska. 

"There  is  a  certain  regularity  about  gold  findings.     South  of 


356  RESOURCES   AND   WEALTH. 

the  Klondike  in  British  Columbia  is  the  Cariboo  region,  \\hich 
was  the  scene  of  a  former  gold  excitement.  Crews  on  vessels 
deserted,  and  there  was  the  sajne  sort  of  a  rush,  on  a  smaller 
scale,  that  we  have  seen  in  the  Klondike.  Then  directly  east  of 
the  '  Pan- Handle  '  of  our  Alaska  territory  is  the  celebrated  Cas- 
siar  country.  Here  are  the  headwaters  of  the  Pelly  River,  and 
the  confluence  of  the  Lewis  and  the  Pelly  makes  the  Yukon.  The 
richness  of  the  Cassiar  country  has  long  been  known,  and  it  be- 
longs to  the  same  general  trend,  geologically  speaking,  as  the 
Klondike.  This  trend  is  parallel  to  the  west  coast  of  the  conti- 
nent. Wherever  the  tributaries  of  these  rivers  have  been  pros- 
pected gold  has  generally  been  found.  Forty-Mile  Creek,  Sixty- 
Mile  Creek  and  Birch  Creek  are  instances  in  point.  The 
headwaters  of  all  these  streams  are  in  a  group  of  mountains,  the 
area  of  which  is  probably  a  thousand  square  miles.  It  is  mostly 
unexplored,  but  largely  within  the  territory  of  the  United  States, 
and  it  is  probably  rich  in  gold.  Of  the  country  farther  north  we 
know  little  as  yet,  although  it  is  well  watered,  and  belongs  to  the 
same  mountain  range.  It  is  entirely  likely  that  placer  mining 
can  be  carried  on  through   this    country  for   a   distance   of  500 

miles. 

West  of  Coast  Range. 

"  Besides  this  trend  of  gold  country  parallel  to  the  west  coast, 
it  will  be  observed  that  there  is  another  remarkable  region  west 
of  the  coast  range,  which  converges  into  the  same  Alaskan 
territory.  Beginning  at  Juneau  there  is  a  great  deal  of  quartz 
mining  and  near  that  town  the  largest  stamp  mill  in  the  world  has 
been  built.  The  ore  is  a  low  grade,  yielding  only  about  $2.^0  a 
ton,  but  it  can  at  that  figure  be  very  profitably  worked.  At 
Yakutat  Bay,  right  under  Mount  St.  Elias,  there  is  considerable 
placer  mining,  and  at  Cook's  Inlet,  farther  north,  still  more. 
Compared   with  the   region  in   Alaska,  which  now  seems  likely 


RESOURCES   AND   WEALTH.  357 

to  be  rich  in  gold,  the  California  territory  was  very  small. 
"  I  iim  much  impressed  with  the  opportunities  for  profit  in 
other  things  in  i^laska  besides  this  gold.  The  fisheries  of  the 
coast  arc  most  remarkable,  and  when  fully  developed  may  yield 
larger  returns  than  the  mines.  Then  the  coal,  now  that  a  popu- 
lation is  going  into  the  country  which  will  want  to  use  it,  is  a 
very  important  thing.  Some  system  of  easy  transportation 
across  country,  from  one  river  to  another,  might  be  profitably 
estabHshed.  The  inhabitants  of  the  Yukon  Valley  will  always 
have  to  draw  their  food  supplies  from  the  outside.  That  is  one 
of  the  most  desolate  regions  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Game  is 
very  scarce.  The  Indian  population  is  slight,  which  proves  how 
difficult  it  must  be  to  get  food." 

Rich  Finds  in  Alaska. 

F.  G.  H.  Bowkcr,  one  of  the  returned  Yukoners,  who  brings 
back  nearly  $40,000  in  gold  dust,  the  result  of  six  months' 
work,  is  authority  for  the  statement  that  on  the  American  side 
of  the  international  boundary  placer  fields  have  been  found 
which  even  put  those  of  the  Klondike  into  the  shade. 

When  his  party  was  descending  the  Yukon  on  the  return  from 
Dawson  City  the  steamship  was  intercepted  by  a  man  who 
desired  to  send  letters  and  papers  back  to  civilization.  This  man 
was  one  of  a  party  who  had  gone  down  the  river  from  Dawson 
in  the  hope  of  locating  rich  beds  of  which  Indians  in  the  vicinity 
had  been  telling.  The  members  of  the  party  were  well  known  to 
the  Yukoners  and  full  credence  is  given  to  the  story. 

Bowkerand  his  associates  were  told  that  jusfacross  the  Alaska 
boundary,  on  the  American  side,  the  part}-  had  found  placer 
fields  fabulously  rich  in  gold.  They  had  staked  out  claims  and 
begun  to  work  them. 

''Every  one  of  us  has  taken  out  thousands  of  dollars  in  dust 


358  RESOURCES   AND  .WEALTH. 

and  nuggets  already,"  said  Bowker's  informant,  "  and  there 
seems  no  limit  to  the  gold  in  sight.  It  is  more  abundant  than 
on  the  Klondike  and  easier  to  work,  the  gold  being  very  near 
the  surface  of  the  ground.  We  arc  all  rich  already,  but  we  are 
going  to  stay  through  next  winter." 

Further  information  was  conveyed  that  there  were  only  white 
men  in  the  new  district,  and  they  had  the  field  practically  to 
themselves.  They  advised  Bowker  and  his  companions  to  for- 
sake Klondike  claims  on  their  return  from  the  States  and  take 
claims  in  the  new  diggings. 

The  point  at  which  the  fortunate  treasure-hunters  are  working 
is  northwest  of  Dawson  and  but  a  few  miles  west  of  the  bound- 
ary. Their  claims  are  in  a  valley  of  one  of  the  numerous  creeks 
emptying  into  the  Yukon. 

Mint  Director's  Report. 

Director  of  tiie  Mint  Preston,  in  a  report  on  the  gold  of  Alaska 
and  the  adjoining  Klondike  territory,  which  may  fairly  be  con- 
sidered at  the  same  time  as  the  Alaskan  auriferous  area,  since 
the  lodes  and  placiers  of  one  are  for  practical  purposes  precisely 
similar  to  those  of  the  other,  says  : 

"That  gold  exists  in  large  quantities  in  the  newly  discovered 
Klondike  district  is  sufficiently  proven  by  the  large  amount  re- 
cently brought  out  by  the  steamship  companies  and  miners 
returning  to  the  States  who  went  into  the  district  within  the  last 
eight  months.  So  far  ;$  1,500,000  in  gold  from  the  Klondike 
District  has  been  deposited  at  the  mints  and  assay  offices  of  the 
United  States,  and  from  information  now  at  hand  there  are  sub- 
stantial reasons  for  believing  from  $3,000,000  to  $4,000,000 
additional  will  be  brought  out  by  the  steamers  and  returning 
miners  sailing  from  St.  Michael's  the  last  of  September  or  early 
October  next.     One  of  the  steamship  companies  states  that  it 


RKSOl  RCES    AND    WEALTH.  359 

expects  to  bring  out  about  $2,000,000  on  its  steamer  sailing  from 
St.  Michael's  on  September  30th,  and  has  asked  the  government 
to  have  a  revenue  cutter  act  as  a  convoy  through  the  Behring 
Sea.  In  view  of  the  facts  above  stated,  I  am  justified  in  estima- 
ting that  the  Klondike  District  will  augment  the  world's  gold 
supply  in  1897  nearly  $6,000,000. 

Richness  of  the   Klondike. 

"The  gold  product  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada  for  1896,  as 
estimated  by  Dr.  G.  M.  Dawson,  Director  of  the  Geological 
Survey  of  that  country,  was  $2,810,000.  Of  this  sum  the 
Yukon  placers,  within  British  territory,  were  credited  with  a  pro- 
duction of  $355,000.  The  total  product  of  that  country  for 
1897  has  been  estimated  at  $10,000,000,  an  increase  over  1896 
of  $7,200,000.  From  this  the  richness  of  the  newly-discovered 
gold  fields  of  the  Klondike  is  evident. 

"Of  all  the  gold-producing  countries,  of  course,  the  Klondike 
is  at  present  one  of  most  absorbing  interest.  It  strikes  the 
imagination  to-day  as  California  did  the  minds  of  the  forty- 
niners.  It  will  add  in  1897  possibly  $6,000,000  to  the  gold 
treasure  of  the  world. 

"  Now  as  to  the  influence  of  such  addition  to  the  world's 
gold,  the  influence  it  will  exert  depends  mainly  on  how  many 
years  the  Klondike  District  shall  continue  a  producer  and  how 
large  its  annual  increment  to  the  world's  existing  stock  of  gold 
shall  be.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  Alaska  and  the 
adjacent  British  territory  are  possibly  as  rich  in  gold  as  was 
California  and  Australia  when  first  discovered.  I  have  estimated 
that  the  Klondike  district  will  in  1897  produce  $6,000,000  worth 
of  gold.  It  will  add  to  the  product  from  year  to  year  probably 
for  a  minimum  of  one  or  two  decades." 

Mr.  Preston  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  United  States 


360  RESOURCES   AND   WEALTH. 

leads  the  world  in  gold  jiroduction.  He  estimates  the  gold  pro- 
duction of  the  world  for  1896  to  have  been  $205,000,000,  of 
which  the  United  States  contributed  over  5 5 3. 000,000.  For 
1897  it  is  believed  the  world's  gold  product  will  reach  at  least 
5240,000,000,  an  increase  of  535,ooo,ooo  over  1896.  He  says  : 
"  As  an  indication  of  the  increase  in  the  world's  gold  product 
for  1 897  the  following  table,  showing  the  product  of  the  United 
States,  Australia,  South  Africa,  Russia,  Mexico,  British  India  and 
Canada  for  1896,  and  the  probable  output  of  these  countries  for 
1897,  is  given  : 

1896.  1897. 

United  States |53, 000,000  |:0, 000,000 

Australia 46,250,000  52,oo0,000 

South  Africa 44,000,000  56,000,000 

Russia 22,000,000  25,000,000 

Mexico 7,000,000  9,000,000 

British  India 5,800,000  7,000,000 

Canada 2,800,000  10,000,000 

Total $180,850,000        |219,550,000 

"  That  the  world's  great  product  will  continue  to  increase  for 
a  number  of  }-cars  to  come,"  says  Mr.  Preston,  "  is  self-evident, 
as  new  mines  will  be  opened  up  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  and 
with  the  improved  appliances  and  methods  for  extracting  the  gold 
contained  in  the  ores  it  is  believed  that  by  the  close  of  the  present 
century  the  world's  gold  product  will  exceed  $300,000,000. 

From  the  Mining  Record. 

The  Alaska  Mining  Record,  in  a  summar>'  of  the  business  of  1 896, 
gives  some  interesting  figures,  as  follows,  about  the  gold  output : 

"  The  output  of  the  mines  of  Alaska  is  difficult  of  estimation. 
The  vastness  of  the  mining  territory,  the  extremely  migratory 
characteristic  of  the  population  and  the  entire  absence  of  reports 
and  statistics  from  a  great  part   of  the  smaller  camps  render  it 


RESOURCES   AND    WEALTH.  361 

difficult  to  arrive  at  a  statement  approximating  correctness  except 
by  careful  study  and  watchful  attention  to  every  detail.  The 
following  estimate  is  the  result  of  just  such  work,  and  is  believed 
to  be  as  nearly  correct  as  is  possible,  and  still  represent  fully, 
yet  conservatively,  the  production  of  gold  in  Alaska  during  1S96 : 

Total  output  of  quartz  mines |2,3o5,000 

L/ituya  Bay  placer  mines 15,000 

Cook  Inlet  placer  mines 175,000 

Birch  Creek  district,  Yukon  mines  .' 1,800,000 

Other  Yukon  districts 800,000 

From  several  small  creeks  iu  various  parts  of  the  ter- 
ritory, worked  by  arrastas  .    .        25,000 

Total  output |;4,670,000 

"This  is  an  increase  over  1895  of  $1,670,000.  At  the  same 
time  the  number  of  new  discoveries  which  promise  well  has  been 
great.  These  will  be  more  or  less  productive  during  the  next 
year,  and  a  corresponding  increase  is  assured.  Two  new  mills  of 
ten  stamps  each  have  been  erected  during  the  past  year,  and 
sixty-five  stamps  have  been  added  to  mills  already  operating, 
bringing  the  number  of  stamps  now  dropping  in  Alaska  to  540, 
of  which  all  but  ninety-four  are  in  continuous  operation,  these 
latter  being  closed  down  by  climatic  severities  during  the  winter 
season.  As  development  is  carried  forward,  however,  steps  are 
taken  to  overcome  this,  and  it  is  but  a  question  of  a  short  time 
when  all  our  mines  will  run  regardless  of  climate  or  season.  It 
is  quite  likely  that  during  the  coming  summer  no  less  than  250 
stamps  will  be  added  to  the  present  number." 

Value   of  Yukon   Gold. 

Assistant  Weigher  W.  A.  Underbill,  of  the  Selby  Smelting 
Company,  of  San  Francisco,  says  the  gold  from  the  Yukon  is 
not  as  valuable  as  that  produced  in  California.  He  states  his 
point  in  these  words  : 


3o2  RESOURCES   AND    WEALTH. 

"  It  is  a  fact  that  the  Yukon  gold  is  not  as  valuable  as  that 
produced  in  this  State.  The  nuggets  from  the  Yukon  are  worth 
$1"]  and  ;^l8  per  ounce,  and  the  finer  gold  dust  is  worth  from 
^i6  to  $1^  per  ounce.  The  California  gold  value  is  about  $\ 
an  ounce  more.  Its  nuggets  run  from  ^i8  to  ;^I9,  and  gold 
dust  never  less  than  $1^  per  ounce." 

There  would  seem  to  be  no  doubt  that  gold  exists  in  paying 

quantities  in  many  other  portions  of  Alaska  than  in  the  quartzite 

veins   of  Douglas   Island   or  the    placers    around    Circle   City. 

"  Color,"  in  fact,  is  a  characteristic  of  the  whole  Yukon  basin 

and  of  a  great  number  of  valleys  and  gulches  in  other  parts  of 

the  Territory. 

At  Cook's  Inlet. 

George  Hall,  a  Cook's  Inlet  miner,  has  this  to  say  about  that 
region  : 

"  I  want  to  deny  the  stories  told  by  '  tenderfect '  sheep  herders 
and  grape  pickers,  who  say  that  there  is  no  gold  in  Cook's  Inlet. 
I'll  wager  that  from  ^400,000  to  5500,000  will  be  taken  out  of 
the  Sunrise  City  district  this  summer.  On  Canon  Creek,  Mills 
Creek,  Gulch  Creek  and  Bear  Creek  the  various  mines  are 
working  from  five  to  twenty  men,  each  at  ^4  a  day,  and  they 
are  taking  out  at  least  ;^20  a  day  to  the  man.  Of  course,  this  is 
not  doing  as  well  as  the  Klondike,  but  it  is  a  mighty  sight  better 
than  nothing. 

"The  Pelly  Mining  Company  took  out  $45,000  last  year,  and 
is  working  ten  men  this  year,  who  are  averaging  5  20  a  day  to 
the  man.     Wages  on  the  Pelly  mine  are  $4  a  day  and  board. 

"An  old  practical  miner  who  went  to  Link  Creek,  which  had 
been  prospected  time  and  again  by  '  tenderfeet '  and  pronounced 
valueless,  took  out  5 10,000  last  fall,  and  is  now  working  twenty 
men.  There  are  three  or  four  other  claims  on  Link  Creek  pay- 
ing equally  as*  well.      Claims  on  Gulch  Creek,  which  was  dis- 


RESOURCES   AND   V/EALTH.  Sii'.i 

covered  by  a  man  named  Shuffler,  were  averaging  $20  a  day  to 
the  man  on  July  4th. 

"  We  have  a  prosperous  community  at  Sunrise — about  200 
population,  two  general  merchandise  stores,  two  saloons  and  a 
hotel.  It  is  no  country  for  men  who  expect  to  pick  up  gold  by 
the  handful,  but  is  good  for  practical,  hard-working  miners." 

Told  by  a   Kadiaker. 

Dr.  C.  F.  Dickenson,  a  resident  of  Kadiak,  recently  wrote  : 

"  In  my  opinion  there  are  just  as  good  placer  diggings  to  be 
found  at  Cook's  Inlet  as  in  the  Klondike  region.  There  is  not 
a  foot  of  ground  in  all  that  country  that  does  not  contain  gold 
in  more  or  less  appreciable  quantities.  There  is  room  there  for 
thousands  of  men,  and  there  is  certainly  no  better  place  in  the 
world  for  a  poor  man." 

George  F.  Becker,  in  an  unpublished  report  made  to  the  geo- 
logical survey  of  his  investigation  in  1895  of  the  coastal  gold 
districts,  says  that  most  of  the  islands  of  the  Alexander  Archi- 
pelago contain  gold  deposits,  yet  un worked,  that  would  probably 
repay  very  handsomely  well-directed  efforts  of  placer  mining. 
These  deposits  are  in  the  neighborhood  of  Sitka,  and  generally 
on  Baronoff  and  Admiralty  Islands,  and  the  beaches  of  the  ad- 
jacent mainland.  Another  fairly  promising  region  is  in  a  group 
of  deposits  on  the  Kenai  Peninsula,  on  the  southeast  shore  of 
Cook's  Inlet,  and  at  Yakutal  Bay  and  the  beaches  of  Kadiak  Island. 

Gold  and  silver  have  been  discovered  in  the  extreme  northern 
portion  of  the  Territory,  but  no  systematic  prospect  has  ever 
been  conducted,  and  the  value  of  the  deposits  cannot  be  estimated. 

In  the  region  of  Lake  Clark,  a  newly  discovered  body  of 
water  in  the  Southwestern  mainland,  the  census  agent  reported 
"pay"  gold  in  the  creek  beds,  but  said  the  dust  was  as  fine  as 
flour,  and  would  require  special  apparatus  for  working. 


364  RESOURCES   AND   WEALTH. 

Professor  G.  F.  Wright,  of  the  Chair  of  Geology  at  Oberlin 
College,  wrote  of  the  general  prospect  to  the  Nczv  York  Joiintal, 
as  follows  : 

"  As  to  the  ultimate  yield  of  the  mines  or  the  prospect  of  find- 
ing more,  we  have  nothing  but  conjecture  to  go  upon.  The 
geologist  who  have  visited  the  region  Avere  not  the  ones  who 
discovered  the  gold.  What  the  prospectors  have  found  points  to 
more.  The  unexplored  region  is  immense.  The  mountains  to 
the  south  are  young,  having  been  elevated  very  much  since  the 
climax  of  the  glacial  period.  With  these  discoveries  and  the 
success  in  introducing  reindeer,  Alaska  bids  fair  to  support  a 
population  eventually  of  several  million.  The  United  States 
must  hold  on  to  her  treaty  rights  with  Great  Britain  for  the  pro- 
tection of  our  interests  there." 

Experts  in   the    Field. 

Samuel  C.  Dunham,  expert  of  the  Federal  Bureau  of  Labor, 
left  for  Alaska  early  in  August,  under  Government  direction,  to 
investigate  the  gold  belt  and  report  this  coming  winter.  His 
inquiry  will  cover  the  extent  of  the  deposits,  opportunities  for 
business,  for  investment  of  capital,  labor,  wages,  cost  of  living, 
climate,  best  means  of  reaching  the  gold  fields  and  kindred 
subjects. 

The  Government  at  Washington  will  send  a  mining  expert 
into  the  Klondike  country  ne.xt  spring  to  make  an  estimate  as  to 
the  probable  amount  of  gold  in  this  region. 

In  reaching  this  conclusion  the  Treasury  Department  is  follow- 
ing the  precedent  established  in  the  case  of  the  gold  discoveries 
in  the  Rand,  South  Africa.  When  those  discoveries  were  reported 
the  Rothschilds  sent  Hamilton  Smith,  of  New  York,  to  estimate 
the  value  of  the  fields,  and  he  reported  $3,000,000,000  as  his 
estimate. 


RESOURCES   AND    WEALTH.  305 

Mining  experts  doubted  the  correctness  of  Mr.  Smith's  con- 
clusions on  account  of  the  smaUncss  of  the  space  occupied  by 
the  mines,  and  the  German  Government  sent  Rergath  Schmeiser, 
a  noted  mining  engineer,  to  make  a  report.  The  government  of 
the  United  States  followed  Germany's  example  by  sending  George 
F.  Becker. 

John   W.  Mackey  Quoted. 

John  W.  M.ickey,  the  la.st  of  the  Bonanza  Kings — now  presi- 
dent of  the  Commercial  Cable  Company  and  of  the  Postal  Tele- 
graph System,  and  one  of  the  world's  great  capitalists — knows 
more,  probably,  about  the  vicissitudes  of  gold  hunting  and  placer 
mining  than  any  man  in  America.  He  spoke  of  the  reports  of 
the  marvelous  richness  of  the  Alaskan  and  Klondike  gold  fields, 
as  follows  : 

"  I  have  no  reason  to  doubt  them.  I  have  had  gre<#  confi- 
dence in  the  mining  possibilities  in  British  Columbia  and  Alaska 
— have  always  believed  that  those  frozen,  almost  inaccessible 
regions  contain  heavy  deposits  of  precious  metals.  Some  enor- 
mous '  finds  '•  of  gold  have  undoubtedly  been  made  there,  and 
yet  we  know  little  or  nothing  of  the  possibilities  of  the  country^. 
Think  of  Williams'  Creek,  for  instance,  in  the  Caribou  region  in 
British  Columbia.  As  long  ago  as  i860  something  like  fifty 
millions  of  gold  were  taken  out.  It  was  placer  mining  there, 
just  the  same  as  the  Klondike. 

"  The  gold  is  right  on  the  surface.  It  is  a  mountainous 
country,  overrun  with  lava  at  some  remote  age,  and  centuries 
ago,  probably,  the  great  forces  of  nature  were  at  work  and 
melted  the  gold  in  a  natural  crucible. 

"  The  particles  of  gold  are  now  washed  out  by  the  waters,  and 
are  generally  found  along  the  course  of  mountain  streams.  You 
will  always  find  the  best  placer  gold  near  the  banks  of  streams 
and  barren  water  courses.     Scientific  mining  preserves  a  much 


366  RESOURCES   AND   WEALTH. 

larger  portion  of  gold  dust  than  formerly,  and  I  presume  it  de- 
stroys a  great  deal  of  the  individuality  in  a  working  miner.  Thus 
far  the  Klondike  region  has  seen  only  old-fashioned,  primitive 
mining,  the  men  groveling  in  the  dirt  with  their  hands  and  wash- 
ing out  the  gold  dust  in  a  simple  pan,  jDicking  nuggets  with  the'r 

fingers. 

Modern  Mining  Methods. 

"  In  time  modern  mining  methods  will  be  carried  up  to  the 
Yukon  country.  The  recent  discoveries  prove  that  it  is  im- 
mensely rich.  All  parts  of  the  country  will  be  opened.  Capital 
will  always  go  where  there  is  a  chance  for  legitimate  investment, 
and  transportation  facilities  will  increase  as  rapidly  as  the  travelers. 

"  Whether  interest  in  the  Alaskan  mines  will  increase  depends 
on  future  reports.  I  see  in  it  something  like  the  excitement  of 
the  cffc'Iy  '50s  over  the  gold  discoveries  of  the  Pacific  coast 
region.  The  reports  of  rich  individual  finds  are  likely  to  con- 
tinue, and  the  arrival  of  every  ship  loaded  with  fortunate  gold 
hunters  will  stimulate  the  imagination,  hopes  and  desires  of  the 
would-be  gold  hunters.  We  hear  nothing  of  the  failures,  you 
know.  One  man  who  is  lucky  is  more  talked  about  than  a 
thousand  who  fail. 

"  My  experience  is,  I  think,  that  about  one  man  in  ten  used  to 
get  on  in  the  mining  days  in  California.  I  do  not  mean  that  one 
man  in  ten  became  a  millionaire.  I  mean  made  a  living  and  a 
little  more.  The  thriftless  and  careless  ones  go  to  the  wall,  while 
the  hard  workers,  who  have  a  definite  purpose  in  view  and  who 
cling  tenaciously  to  it,  succeed  in  mining  as  in  other  occupations. 

"  But,  as  I  said,  in  placer  mining  there  is  a  good  deal  of  luck 
in  locating  the  claim.  One  man  will  take  out  a  great  deal  and 
another  man  nothing.  As  to  the  limits  of  British  Columbia 
mining  I  cannot  say,  but  I  think  there  are  immense  gold  deposits 
yet  to  be  found." 


RESOURCES    AND    WEALTH.  3G7 

Henry  Ellsworth  Haydon,  former  Secretary  of  Alaska,  speaks 
of  the  gold  production  as  follows  : 

"  From  many  places  in  the  Pacific  coast  States  miners  have 
been  drifting  Alaskaward  for  years,  locating  pay  quartz  and 
placer  claims  in  southeastern  Alaska  and  along  the  Yukon 
River  and  its  tributaries,  and  feeling  assured  all  the  time,  from 
ever>^  indication,  that  the  wind-blown  snow  plumes  on  the 
mountain  tops  waved  above  crowns  of  gold. 

A  Happy  Surprise. 

"  Long  prior  to  1887  Juneau  and  a  comrade  went  prospecting 
in  Alaska.  They  were  hunting  quartz.  Paddling  along  the 
coast  in  a  canoe,  they  saw  far  up  a  mountain  side,  which  skirted 
a  lonely  bay,  the  glimmer  of  white  outcroppings  from  the  dull 
gray  of  the  surrounding  rocks.  They  beached  their  canoe,  and 
after  a  hard  climb  reached  the  spot.  The  rock  was  worthless, 
but  the  summit  was  not  far  off,  and  desiring  to  see  what  was  on 
the  other  side,  they  pushed  onward  until  they  stood  where  they 
could  look  down  into  a  ravine,  through  which  a  mountain  stream 
rushed  tumultuously  toward  the  sea.  They  noted  that  the  bed 
of  the  stream  was  strewn  with  big  white  boulders,  and  curiosity 
and  hope  led  them  to  descend  to  it  and  investigate.  Joe  told 
me  he  was  breathless  w^hen  he  got  there,  and  they  both  sat 
down  on  the  banks  and  wondered  if  it  were  true. 

"  Before  them,  where  the  crystal  water  babbled,  they  saw 
white  rocks  veined  with  gold  and  inlaid  with  nuggets,  many  as 
large  as  a  thumb  nail.  They  stayed  there  while  their  provisions 
lasted,  a  few  days  only,  gathering  together  $14,000  in  virgin 
gold. 

"  In  the  rear  of  Juneau,  on  the  mainland,  is  Silver  Bow  Basin, 
where  some  rich  placer  mines  are  being  worked.  Placer  mining 
is  carried  on  in  at   least  eight   districts,  viz.  :  Silver   Bow   Basin, 


3G8  RESOURCES   AND    WEALTH. 

near  Juneau  ;  Sum  Dum  and  Shuck,  some  distance  south ; 
Latuya  Bay,  on  the  coast  north  of  Cross  Sound ;  Yakutat, 
Kenai  Peninsula ;  the  Fish  River  district,  on  Norton  Sound, 
at  Cook's  Inlet,  and  the  Yukon  district,  including  the  rivers  flowing 

into  the  Yukon. 

Placers  in   Yukon   Basin. 

"  In  the  absence  of  statistics  it  is  difficult  to  obtain  reliable 
information,  but  work  in  these  placers  continues,  which  is  evidence 
of  success.  For  ten  years  at  least  men  have  w'orked  placers  in 
the  Yukon  district.  Leaving  Juneau  early  in  the  spring,  they  have 
gone  out  over  the  Chilkat  Pass  and  down  the  little  chain  of  lakes 
on  the  other  side,  making  long  portages,  it  is  true,  and  enduring 
some  hardships,  to  the  Yukon  River.  They  have  returned  to 
Juneau  in  the  fall,  year  after  year,  bringing  with  them  from  $2000 
to  ^$3500  each  in  gold  dust,  the  product  of  the  summer's  work. 
But  they  are  improvident,  these  men  who  win  gold  from  the  beds 
of  rivers,  and  when  the  spring  comes  they  are  stranded  finan- 
cially, many  of  them  without  a  grub-stake,  but  they  '  win  out ' 
some  way  and  go  back  again  to  return — unless  they  have  crossed 
the  divide  forever — and  repeat  the  same  old  story  of  excess  and 
extravagance. 

"They  never  grow  money  wise,  these  grizzled  veterans  of  the 
rocker,  the  gold  pan,  the  pick  and  the  shovel,  but  after  all  they 
are  of  God's  people^  and  I  like  them. 

"  Quartz  lodes  are  worked  in  ten  or  more  districts,  some  of 
which  are  large  and  contain  many  district  claims.  The  ten  dis- 
tricts referred  to  are  as  follows  :  Sheep  Creek  region,  which 
yields  ore  containing  silver,  gold,  and  other  metals  ;  Salmon 
Creek,  near  Juneau,  silver  and  gold  ;  Silver  Bow  Basin,  mainly 
gold  ;  Douglas  Island,  mainly  gold  ;  Fuhter  Bay,  on  Admiralty 
Island,  mainly  gold  ;  the  Silver  Bay  Mining  District,  near  Sitka, 
gold  and  silver  ;   Besner  Bay,  in  Lynn  Canal,  mainly  gold  ;  Fish 


RESOURCES  AND   WEALTH.  369 

River  Mining  District,  on  Norton  Sound ;  Unga  District  and 
Lemon  Creek." 

The  undeveloped  and  almost  unthought  of  mineral  resources 
of  Alaska,  other  than  gold,  deserve  a  passing  glance.  Another 
year  or  two  will,  perhaps,  give  some  statistics  of  deposit  and 
production  which  are  lacking  now. 

Copper  promises  to  be  a  valuable  and  important  resource  of 
the  tcrritoiy.  It  is  found  pure  or  "virgin  "  in  many  places  aivJ 
has  given  its  name  to  the  little  known  Copper  River.  A  valuable 
deposit  of  bronze  copper  has  been  worked  for  years. 

An  expedition  has  been  organized  to  go  out  from  Tacoma  and 
Port  Townsend  to  explore  a  rich  copper  field,  in  which  there  is 
believed  to  be  also  much  gold,  which  is  known  to  exist  along 
the  Copper  River.  For  many  years  past  gold,  copper  and  furs 
have  been  brought  out  of  that  region  by  Copper  River  Indians, 
and  exchanged  with  traders  for  firearms  and  food.  The  Copper 
Indians  are  a  ferocious  tribe,  and  during  the  last  few  years  have 
become  well  equipped  with  guns  and  ammunition.  Knowing 
the  value  of  their  rich  stakes,  and  that  the  ingress  of  white  men 
would  mean  their  retirement,  the  Indians  have  steadfastly  refused 
to  permit  a  single  white  man  to  explore  their  countr)\  Every 
man  making  the  attempt  has  been  told  to  keep  out,  and  when 
he  persisted  has  been  killed. 

After   the    Copper. 

The  Copper  River  tribe  numbers  nearly  looo,  and  as  they 
have  been  well  able  to  carry  out  their  threats,  no  attempt  to 
molest  them  has  been  made  in  recent  years.  Now,  however,  it 
is  intended  to  teach  these  natives  that  white  men  must  eventually 
be  allowed  to  prospect  and  take  out  the  mineral  riches  of  their 
domain. 

One  hundred  men,  heavily  armed,  will  compose  the  expedition. 
24 


370  RESOURCES   AND   WEALTH. 

They  will  be  led  into  the  Copper  River  section  by  Judge  Joseph 
Kuhn,  who  has  been  collecting  data  regarding  Copper  River 
for  years,  and  was  the  originator  of  the  project.  The  Indians 
will  not  be  molested  unless  they  attack  the  exploring  party. 
Traditions  of  the  last  sixty  years  have  ascribed  great  mineral 
wealth  to  the  Copper  River  country.  At  Sitka,  it  is  said,  that 
in  1 83 1  a  Russian  trader  invaded  that  section  with  eight  men. 
They  were  killed  when  within  two  days'  march  to  the  seacoast. 
Coal  of  fair  quality  exists  in  good  quantity  in  several  parts  of 
Alaska.  At  Coal  Harbor  an  ample  supply  of  a  rather  poor 
quality  of  lignite  has  been  worked  in  a  spasmodic  way  for  some 
time.  A  semi-bituminous  lignite  is  mined  along  the  northern 
coast  by  whalers  for  use  on  the  spot.  It  makes  steam  quickly, 
but  the  quantities  of  ash  and  cinder  are  something  of  an 
objection.  A  glossy,  semi-bituminous  lignite,  which  steams  well 
and  is  mined  without  much  labor,  is  found  near  Kilisnoo,  and 
good  coal  exists  on  Silkinak  Island.  A  new  coal  mine  has  just 
been  opened  six  miles  from  Fort  Cudahy,  and  will  be  promptly 
developed  to  supply  fuel  to  the  river  steamers.  Coal  is  also 
mined  in  the  Pelly  River  country. 

Lead    and    Other    Riches. 

Lead  is  found  on  Whale  Bay  and  Kadiak  Island,  and  there  are 
indications  of  paying  deposits  in  the  interior.  A  mine  on  the 
Fish  River  has  been  opened  for  working  by  a  San  Francisco 
company. 

Graphite  abounds  about  Port  Clarence.  Marble  exists  in 
inexhaustible  quantities. 

Petroleum  has  been  found  in  what  are  believed  to  be  paying 
quantities  on  a  lake  near  Kadmai  Bay.  Samples  sent  down  for 
analysis  were  of  marvelous  richness,  and  a  company  has  been 
formed  to  handle  the  product  for  the  Alaskan  mining  camps. 


RESOURCES   AND   WEALTH.  371 

A  San  Francisco  expert,  just  returned  from  Alaska,  sums  up 
the  resources  as  follows  : 

"  There  are  other  discoveries  awaiting  the  pioneers  of  Alaska 
than  that  of  gold.  Iron  and  coal  abound  in  these  rugged 
mountains,  and  the  necessity  of  development  will  be  immediatly 
apparent.  The  source  of  a  new  commerce  will  be  established. 
An  impetus  will  be  given  to  the  manufacturing  interests  of  the 
Pacific  Coast,  and  the  community  wealth  will  receive  a  more 
substantial  benefit  than  could  possibly  accrue  from  individual 
accumulation  of  riches." 

Canadian    "  Blue    Book." 

The  Canadian  Government  has  issued  a  "  Blue  Book  "  on  the 
Klondike,  extracts   from    which  deserve  a  place  here.      It  says  : 

"It  is  beyond  doubt  that  a  considerable  number  of  pans  of 
the  dirt  on  different  claims  have  turned  out  over  ;$200  worth  of 
gold,  while  those  which  run  from  ten  dollars  to  fifty  dollars  have 
been  ver^'  numerous.  In  the  line  of  these  finds  further  south  is 
the  Cassiar  gold  fields,  in  British  Columbia,  so  the  presumption 
is  that  we  have  in  our  territory  along  the  easterly  watershed  of 
the  Yukon  a  gold-bearing  belt  of  indefinite  width  and  upward  of 
300  miles  long,  exclusive  of  the  British  Columbia  part  of  it." 

"  Gold  is  not  the  only  mineral  wealth  of  the  Yukon,  it  appears. 
Mr.  Ogilvie  states  that  copper  has  been  found  on  the  Ton-dac 
Creek,  above  Fort  Reliance,  and  several  small  veins  have  been 
found  in  the  vicinity.  With  better  facilities  it  may  become,  he 
says,  a  valuable  feature  of  the  countr)^  A  small  seam  of  asbes- 
tos was  also  found  a  short  distance  from  Fort  Cudahy,  and  as 
there  is  quite  an  area  of  serpentine  in  that  neighborhood,  asbestos 
of  commercial  value  may  yet  be  found. 

"  Still  another  valuable  feature  is  the  coal  fields  which  the  dis- 
trict possesses.     On  Coal  Creek,  about  seven  miles  up,  overlying 


372  RESOURCES   AND   WEALTH. 

a  coarse  sandstone  and  under  drift  clay  and  gravel,  a  seam  of 
twelve  feet  six  inches  has  been  discovered.  It  is  certain  that 
coal  extends  along  the  valley  of  the  Yukon  from  Coal  Creek,  ten 
or  twelve  mile  down,  and  from  Coal  Creek  up  to  Twelve-Mile 
Creek,  which  flows  into  the  Yukon  about  thirty  miles  above 
Fort  Cudahy.  Coal  is  also  found  in  the  upper  part  of  Klondike 
and  on  other  creeks." 

Gold-bearing  quartz,  the  report  states,  has  been  found  in  Cone 
Hill,  which  stands  midway  in  the  valley  of  the  Forty-Mile  River, 
a  couple  of  miles  above  the  junction  with  the  Yukon.  The 
quantity  in  sight  surpasses  that  of  the  famous  Treadwell  mine  on 
the  coast,  and  the  quality  is  better.  Were  it  on  the  coast  the 
Treadwell  would  be  diminutive  beside  it. 

Not  far  from  Cone  Hill  a  ledge  liad  been  found  last  spring  on 
the  Chindindu  River  (known  in  the  district  as  the  Twelve-Mile 
Creek),  by  an  American  expert  prospecting  for  the  North  Ameri- 
can Transportation  and  Trading  Company,  which  the  expert  said 
he  had  never  read  of  or  seen  anything  like  in  the  world.  He 
had  spent  years  of  his  life  in  the  best  mining  districts  of  the 
United  States,  and  he  assured  Mr.  Ogilvic  that  this  section  of 
country  promised  better  than  any  he  ever  saw  before,  and  he 
was  going  to  spend  the  rest  of  his  life  there. 

By  Governor  Mcintosh. 

Governor  H.  C.  Mcintosh,  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  which 
includes  the  Canadian  Yukon,  says  the  Klondike  diggings  will 
reach  ;^io,000,000  in  the  season  of  1897.  In  a  recent  interview 
about  the  new  camp.  Governor  Mcintosh  said  : 

"  We  are  only  on  the  threshold  of  the  greatest  discovery  ever 
made.  Gold  has  been  piling  up  in  all  these  innumerable  streams 
for  hundreds  of  years.  Much  of  the  territor}-  the  foot  of  man 
has  never  trod.      It  would  hardly  be  possible  for  one  to  exag- 


RESOURCES    AND   WEALTH.  373 

geratc  the  richness,  not  only  of  the  Klondike,  but  of  other  dis- 
tricts in  the  Canadian  Yukon.  At  the  same  time,  the  folly  of 
thousands  rushing  in  there  without  proper  means  of  subsistence 
and  utter  ignorance  of  geographical  conditions  of  the  country 
should  be  kept  ever  in  mind. 

"  There  are  fully  9000  miles  of  these  golden  waterways  in  the 
region  of  the  Yukon.  Rivers,  creeks  and  streams  of  every  size 
and  description  are  all  rich  in  gold.  I  derived  this  knowledge 
from  many  old  Hudson  Bay  explorers,  who  assured  me  that 
they  considered  the  gold  next  to  inexhaustible. 

"  In  1 894  I  made  a  report  to  Sir  John  Thompson,  then  premier 
of  Canada,  who  died  the  same  year,  at  Windsor  Castle,  .strongly 
urging  that  a  body  of  Canadian  police  be  established  on  the  river 
to  maintain  order.  This  was  done  in  1895,  and  the  British  out- 
post of  Fort  Cudahy  was  founded. 

Prospect  in   Other  Streams. 

"  I  have  known  gold  to  exist  there  since  1 889,  consequent  upon 
a  report  made  to  me  by  W.  Ogilvic,  the  gov^ernment  explorer. 
Many  streams  that  will  no  doubt  prove  to  be  as  rich  as  the  Klon- 
dike have  not  been  explored  or  prospected.  Among  these  I 
might  mention  Dominion  Creek,  Hootalinqua  River,  Stewart 
River,  Liard  River  and  a  score  of  other  streams  comparatively 
unknown. 

"  It  is  my  judgment  and  opinion,  that  the  1897  yield  of  the 
Canadian  Yukon  will  exceed  $10,000,000  in  gold.  Of  course, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  Cariboo  and  Cassiar  districts  years  ago,  it 
will  be  impossible  accurately  to  estimate  the  full  amount  taken 
out. 

"There  is  now  far  in  excess  of  $1,000,000  remaining  already 
mined  on  the  Klondike.  It  is  in  valises,  tin  cans  and  lying  loose 
in  saloons,  but  just  as  sacredly  guarded  there  and  apparently  as 


374  RESOURCES   AND    WEALTH. 

safe  as  if  it  were  in  a  vault.  Already  this  spring  we  have  official 
knowledge  of  over  32,000,000  in  gold  having  been  taken  from 
the  Klondike  camps.  It  was  shipped  out  on  the  steamships 
Excelsior  and  Portland. 

"  Incidentally  I  may  say  we  have  data  of  an  official  nature 
which  lead  us  to  believe  that  the  gold  output  of  the  Rossland 
and  Kootenai  districts  for  1897  will  be  in  excess  of  $7,000,000. 
I  should  have  said,  and  I  have  no  hesitancy  in  asserting,  that 
within  the  course  of  five  years  the  gold  yield  of  the  three  dis- 
tricts named  will  exceed  that  of  either  Colorado,  California  or 
South  Africa." 

A  more  complete  statement  of  the  seal  and  salmon  industries 
will  be  found  in  another  chapter. 

Adds  to  our  Knowledge. 

In  these  days  when  every  scrap  of  information  regarding 
Alaska  and  the  gold  discoveries  is  eagerly  sought,  and  the  greed 
of  gold  is  leading  many  to  almost  certain  destruction,  it  is  well 
to  consider  what  is  a  redeeming  feature  of  the  gokl  craze.  The 
finds  in  the  upper  Yukon  country  can  at  best  benefit  only  a 
limited  number  of  people  in  a  direct  manner,  while  the  educa- 
tional value  of  the  gold  discoveries  to  all  civilized  nations  really  is 
unlimited.  Only  a  few  weeks  ago  Alaska  in  general  and  the 
Klondike  region  in  particular  were  comparatively  unknown.  The 
maps  contained  only  indefinite  outlines  of  the  more  important 
streams  and  mountain  ranges,  and  as  to  places  of  human  abode, 
with  the  exceptions  of  a  few  in  Southern  Alaska,  none  was  re- 
corded. Look  at  the  change  now.  Chilkoot  Pass,  Dyea,  Lake 
Linderman,  Bonanza  Creek,  Circle  City,  Fort  Cudahy,  St.  Mich- 
ael's, Dutch  Harbor,  etc.,  are  on  ever>'body's  lips,  and  many  who 
could  not  locate  St.  Louis  accurately  on  the  maps  talk  of  the 
Klondike   River  as  familiarly  as  of  the   Mississippi. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
Gold  Mining   in  Alaska. 

Antiquity  of  Placer  Mining — How  Nature  has  Filled  the  Gravel  with  Gold 
— Selecting  a  Locality — Building  a  House — Out  Prospecting — Thawing 
the  Ground — How  to  Distinguish  Gold  from  other  Minerals — Pyrites, 
Mica,  Black  Sand — Mechanical  Assay — Locating  the  Claim — Local 
Customs — Commissioner  Herrman's  Digest — Getting  Out  the  Gold — 
Mining  in  Winter — Work  Along  the  Yukon — Sluicing  for  Gold — Dry 
Placer  Miners— Dredging  for  Gold — Old  Miner's  Advice — Gold-bearing 
Quartz — How  Gold  Came  to  Klondike — Banks  and  Banking. 

-v  "yO  history  has  recorded,  nor  has  tradition  handed  down, 
j^  whether  the  first  gold  which  excited  man's  admiration 
and  afterward  his  cupidity  was  a  nugget  of  the  virgin 
metal  or  only  glittering,  yellow  dust.  Probably  it  was  the  former 
and  quite  likely  the  lump  was  a  large  one.  But  since  that  primi- 
tive time  the  thirst  for  gold  then  created  has  grown  more 
insatiable  till  famishing  mankind  in  the  search  for  the  precious 
metal  has  literally  changed  the  face  of  nature  over  a  good 
portion  of  the  known  world. 

Probably  the  first  man  to  make  a  "  strike  "  valued  the  nugget 
mainly  because  it  was  large  and  bright,  but  smaller  bits  of  the 
same  brilliant  substance  came  ere  long  to  have  a  recognized 
value  proportioned  to  their  size,  and  when  at  length  some 
unusually  long-headed  antedeluvian  hit  upon  the  fact  that  a 
pound  of  gold  dust  could  be  made  into  one  lump  just  as  large 
and  just  as  brilliant  as  a  nugget  of  the  same  weight  the  day  of 
"dust"  had  dawned.  And  the  day  of  dust  was  the  day  when 
men  began  to  "  wash  "  the  golden  sands  of  the  ancient  river 
beds  and  lay  up  for  themselves  treasures  on  earth. 

Placer  mining,  in  which  the  gold  found  "  free  "  in  the  grave) 
beds   is   washed    clean   of    earthy   dross,    is    essentially   "  poor 

375 


376  GOLD   MINING   IN   ALASKA. 

man's  "  mining.  It  needs  few  tools  and  little  capital,  and  there 
is  no  hindering  patent  on  the  process.  It  has  been  folio  ./ed 
from  the  earliest  times  and  in  much  the  same  manner  in  all 
parts  of  the  world.  Nations  which  had  nothing  else  in  common 
were  alike  in  their  methods  and  tools  for  placer  mining.  The 
pans  and  panning  described  by  Mungo  Park  were  practically- 
identical  with  those  of  the  "  days  of  '49,"  and  the  prospector  of 
'97  in  the  Klondike  needs  no  other  types  of  tools  than  are  in 
use  by  the  rude  native  minors  of  every  gold  bearing  region  on 
earth. 

In  the  shallow  diggings  or  placers  nature  has  for  ages  been 
performing  the  work  for  which  the  quartz  miner  must  invent  all 
manner  of  machinery  and  employ  a  vast  amount  of  capital  and 
skilled  labor — the  disintegration  of  the  gold-bearing  rock  and 
the  concentration  of  the  metal.  Consequently,  the  unskilled 
laborer,  whose  capital  is  his  own  strength  and  a  few  of  the  sim- 
plest tools,  is  able  to  extract,  on  a  remunerative  scale,  immense 
quantities  of  gold  which,  under  its  original  condition,  spread 
through  quartz  and  other  hard  rocks,  would  have  needed  vast 
amounts  of  capital  and  much  machinery  for  its  elimination,  and 
in  many  instances  would  not  have  repaid  the  outlay.  It  is  easy 
to  see  why  placers  are  "  poor  men's  "  mines. 

Exhausting  the   Surfacings. 

The  exhaustion  of  the  shallow  placers  of  the  older  gold  fields 
is  fast  approaching,  that  class  of  mining  being  abandoned  in 
those  regions  in  America  almost  entirely  to  the  patient  Chinese. 
Yet  it  should  not  be  forgotten  these  shallow  washings  have  often 
led  the  miner  to  the  very  door  of  vast  storehouses  of  wealth  in  the 
veins  in  the  hills  and  mountains.  In  California,  in  New  South 
Wales  and  in  Victoria  deep  leads  were  nearly  all  discovered  by 
prospecting  the  surfacing.     From  this  the  Alaskan  miner  will 


GOLD    MININCx    IN    ALASKA. 


377 


understand  tliat  however  rich  his  placer  claim  may  be,  it  is,  more 
than  that,  the  Hkcly  guide  post  to  a  still  vaster  treasure,  and  he 
will  be  able  to  understand  why  "  Lucky  "  Baldwin  intends  to  turn 
his  great  experience  and  ample  resources  to  the  locating  of  the 
"  mother  lode." 

But  the  majority  of  the  men  now  in  or  going  into  the  Alas- 


HYDRAULIC    MINING. 

kan  diggings  or  the  Klondike  have  neither  taste,  time  nor  means 
to  hunt  for  the  "  mother  lode."  They  have  taken  it  for  granted 
that  nature  has  extracted  the  yellow  metal  from  the  rocks  for 
them,  and  they  want  the  benefit  of  her  bounty  in  a  hurr)',  and 
all  they  can  get  of  it. 
.    The  first  thing  for  the  prospector  to  do  is  to  pick  out  a  likcl)- 


378  GOLD    MINING    IN   ALASKA. 

locality  to  prospect.  Judgment  and  technical  knowledge  and 
experience  all  count  for  something  in  making  this  choice,  but 
they  are  not  infallible.  The  novice  may  have  better  luck  than 
the  old-timer,  and  it  is  worthy  of  note  in  this  connection  that  old 
miners  arc  firm  believers  in  "  luck."  The  experiences  of  the  last 
two  years  in  the  Yukon  Basin  would  seem  to  go  far  to  confirm 
their  faith. 

A  man  just  back  from  Dawson  City  with  ;^  100,000  in  dust  to 
his  credit  told  this  story  : 

"  Men  who  had  scarcely  one  dollar  six  months  ago  are  now 
bonanza  kings  carrying  ;^  50,000  in  gold  dust  and  owning  claims 
that  they  would  not  sell  for  that  amount.  It  is  simply  chance 
or  luck  and  nothing  else.  Dozens  of  worthy  fellows  have 
worked  hard  and  not  "  struck  "  anything  yet,  while  others  have 
literally  stumbled  into  their  good  fortunes.  Last  November  a 
man  went  out  on  the  creek  with  others  to  stake  a  claim.  He 
was  so  drunk  that  he  scarcely  knew — much  less  cared — where 
he  was  or  what  he  was  doing,  but  he  staked.  Now,  he  can  com- 
mand his  hundreds  of  thousands." 

Building  a  House. 

Having  selected  a  locality  the  next  thing  is  to  build  a  house, 
or  hut,  for  the  daily  Hfe  of  a  prospector  or  miner  on  the  Yukon 
is  rough  and  hard,  and  a  warm  home  is  absolutely  essential  to 
the  health  and  cheerful  spirit  without  which  he  cannot  hope  to 
succeed.  If  there  are  four  men  in  the  party,  the  building  need 
not  take  more  than  a  day.  Architecture  is  all  "  out  of  the 
same  log"  in  that  region,  and  any  house  will  do  for  a  model. 
Four  log  walls  well  chinked  with  the  abundant  moss,  a  dirt  roof 
and  a  chimney  are  the  main  essentials. 

Then,  out  for  "  color." 

Prospecting  in  this  land  of  long  winters  is  generally  conducted 


GOLD    MINING    IN   ALASKA.  379 

in  the  season  when  everything  is  locked  in  frost.  During  the 
short  summer  the  streams  are  full  of  rushing  water,  and  pros- 
pecting except  along  the  banks  is  difficult  and  often  impossible. 
The  absence  of  water  might  be  deemed  a  drawback  in  winter 
prospecting,  but  the  novice  will  quickly  learn  that  it  takes  but  a 
little  water  to  wash  out  a  sample  pan,  and  that  amount  can 
easily  be  obtained  by  melting  snow  or  ice.  Moreover,  to  an 
expert  placer  miner,  water  is  not  a  necessity.  He  pans  dry. 
The  Alaskan  "dust"  is  very  coarse  averaging  nearly  a  wheat 
grain  in  size.     This  makes  easy  panning. 

Mrs.  Frederick  Schwatka  gives  a  none  too  alluring  picture  of 
this  stage  of  the  Yukon  miner's  experience  in  these  words  : 

"  There  isn't  very  much  said  about  the  kind  of  ground  that 
the  gold  hunters  have  to  prospect  over  in  the  river  regions.  It 
is  frightfully  hard  to  travel.  In  the  winter  it  is  all  ice  and  in 
the  summer  it  is  buried  deep  with  drift  wood  and  debris  from  the 
spring  floods  till  it  is  almost  impassable.  All  the  rivers  are 
flooded  every  spring  and  fall  and  the  waters  carry  off  huge  pieces 
of  frozen  banks." 

But  the  Alaska  argonaut  knew  all  this  before  he  started,  so  he 

is  not  disheartened. 

Thawing  the  Ground. 

In  hunting  for  gold  prospectors  dig  a  hole  down  to  bed  rock, 

which  is  generally  found  at  a  depth  of  from   fifteen   to  eighteen 

feet.     In  the  Yukon  Basin  they  have  to  melt  the  ground,  a  few 

inches  at  a  time,  as  they  dig.      The  first  twelve  feet  or  so  of  earth 

is  non-auriferous.      Under  it  lies  a  stratum  of  coarse  gravel  three 

feet  or  more   in  thickness,  which   is    rich    in    the  precious  metal, 

most  of  it  being  in  the  shape  of  small   nuggets  or  grains.     It  is 

called  "  dust,"  but  it  is  much  coarser  than  the  dust  found  in  other 

parts  of  the  world.      Some  of  it  is  so  large  that  a  big  percentage 

can  be  picked  out  by  hand  as  the  gravel  is  brought  up  out  of  the 


380  GOLD    MINING    IN   ALASKA. 

hole,   but    the    general    practice    is    to    sluice    or  pan    wash    it. 

The  feeble  suns  of  the  short  summer  do  not  thaw  out  the 
frozen  ground  to  its  full  depth  in  the  Yukon  Basin,  and  it  has  to 
be  softened  by  building  huge  fires,  which  are  kept  going  night 
and  day  until  the  earth  is  in  such  shape  that  the  miners  can  force 
their  way  through  it  with  picks.  This  done,  a  number  of  holes 
are  dug  on  each  claim,  but  even  then  when  the  gold  gravel  is 
taken  out  it  is  in  frozen  chunks  resembling  small  masses  of  con- 
crete. By  making  these  holes  in  the  summer  the  miners  are 
enabled  to  work  underground  a  portion  of  the  winter  and  thus 
prepare  for  an  early  wash-up  when  the  spring  thaw  comes  in 
June.  To  take  advantage  of  this  the  gravel  which  has  been 
dug  out  during  the  winter  has  to  be  again  softened  by  fire  before 
it  can  be  put  through  the  sluices  or  pans  and  the  gold  separated. 

The  gravel  is  packed  in  a  kind  of  clay,  which  makes  a  con- 
glomerate like  concrete,  through  which,  when  frozen,  the  strongest 
man  cannot  force  a  pick.  When  this  gravel  is  thawed  it  is  broken 
up  with  picks  and  thrown  in  a  big  heap  with  shovels.  It  varies 
in  depth  from  fourteen  to  twenty  feet,  and  it  is  richest  in  gold 
close  to  the  bed  rock.  This  is  because  gold  is  heavier  than 
gravel  and  settles  toward  the  bottom  of  any  bar  or  bank  in  which 
it  has  accumulated.  It  is  almost  unnecessary  to  say  that  in  sinking 
the  holes  or  shafts  every  foot  of  the  ground  must  be  prospected 
for  "pay  dirt."  This  part  of  the  prospecting  consists  simply  in 
washing  out  pans  of  the  gravel  or  sand  ;  if  gold  is  found  the 
claim  should  be  "  located  "  or  staked  out  at  once. 

How  to  Tell  Minerals. 

It  is  necessary  to  remind  the  novice  that  all  is  not  gold  that 
glitters.  Since  the  days  when  the  earliest  Virginian  explorers 
sailed  back  to  England  with  a  ship-load  of  yellow  sand  under 
the  delusion  that  they  had  a  cargo  of  gold,  "  tenderfeet"  have 


GOLD   MINING   IN   ALASKA.  381 

been  easily  misled,  when  seeking  gold,  by  iron  and  copper  pyrites 
and  by  mica.  How  to  distinguish  these  natural  counterfeits  is 
worth  knowing. 

Iron  pyrites,  or  bisulphide  of  iron,  is  a  brass-yellow  mineral 
occurring  in  small  cubical  crystals.  It  is  easily  discriminated. 
When  strongly  heated  it  is  attracted  by  the  magnet,  while  gold 
never  becomes  magnetic.  Gold  is  malleable  and  iron  pyrites 
brittle.  Gold  may  be  cut  in  flakes,  pyrites  not.  Heated  in 
nitric  acid  pyrites  dissolves  with  effervescence  and  abundant  red 
fumes,  gold  is  unaffected.  The  specific  gravity  of  gold  is  about 
four  times  that  of  iron  pyrites.  Mercury  absorbs  gold  dust,  but 
not  iron  pyrites. 

Copper  pyrites,  or  yellow  copper  ore,  the  principal  source  of 
copper,  is  a  deep  brass-yellow  colored  mineral  with  a  strong  me- 
tallic lustre.  Its  primitive  crystalline  form  is  the  regular  tetra- 
hedron. It  crumbles  freely  under  the  hammer,  and  yields  to 
tlu'  knife  ;  but  instead  of  giving  a  solid  chip  as  gold  would,  pro- 
duces only  dust.  Heated  on  charcoal  before  the  blowpipe  it 
loses  its  yellow  color  and  fuses  into  a  dull  black  globule.  Mixed 
with  carbonate  of  soda  and  a  little  borax  and  subjected  to  the 
blowpipe  it  will  yield  a  button  of  metallic  copper. 

Mica  is  a  yellow,  glistening  mineral  of  foliated  structure,  and 
semi-metallic  luster.  It  is  much  lighter  than  gold  and  becomes 
flakey  when  heated  to  redness  and  loses  its  lustre  on  cooling, 
whereas  gold  would  remain  unchanged. 

Black    Sand. 

In  assaying  the  gold  sand  of  rivers,  streams,  and  beaches  of  the 
Pacific  coast,  some  difficulty  is  occasionally  met  with  from  the 
specular  and  titanic  iron  known  technically  as  black  sand.  Plati- 
num and  iridium  are  often  found  in  the  same  sands.  Following 
are  convenient  methods  of  testing  these  sands  : 


382  GOLD    MINING    IN    ALASKA. 

For  Atvvood's  test,  take    lOO  to  looo  grains  and  attack  with 

aqua  regia  in  a  flask  ;  cool  for  thirty  minutes,  dilute  with  water 

and  filter.      If  gold  is  present  it  will  be  in  solution  in  the  filtrate. 

Evaporate  the  filtrates  to  dryness,  add  a  little  hydrochloric  acid 

and  redissolve  the  dry  salt  in  warm  water  ;  add  to  the  solution 

so  formed,  protosulphate  of  iron,  which  will  throw  down  the  gold 

as  a  fine,  dark  precipitate.      Dry  and  burn  over  the  lamp.      Mix 

residuum  with  three  times  its  weight  of  lead,  fuse,  scarify  and 

cupel. 

Mechanical   Assay. 

The  mechanical  test  or  assay  of  auriferous  sands  is  of  the 
utmost  practical  value,  and  may  be  thus  described  as  scientifically 
performed,  it  being  understood  this  is  only  a  working  test,  and 
does  not  give  all  the  gold  as  shown  by  a  careful  fire  assay  :  Put 
2000  grammes  in  a  pan  or,  better,  in  a  batea,  and  wash  care- 
fully until  the  gold  begins  to  appear.  Use  clean  water,  and 
when  the  pan  and  the  small  residue  are  clean,  pour  ofiT  most  of 
the  water  and  drop  in  a  globule  of  pure  mercury  and  a  piece  of 
cyanide  of  potassium.  As  the  cyanide  begins  to  dissolve,  impart 
a  rotary  motion  to  the  dish — best  done  by  holding  the  arms  stiff 
and  moving  the  body.  As  the  mercury  rolls  over  and  ploughs 
through  the  sand,  under  the  influence  of  the  cyanide,  it  will  col- 
lect all  the  particles  of  free  gold.  When  all  has  been  collected, 
transfer  the  mercury  carefully  to  a  small  porcelain  cup  or  test 
tube,  and  boil  with  strong,  pure  nitric  acid.  When  the  mercury 
is  all  dissolved,  the  acid  is  poured  off,  more  nitric  acid  is  applied 
cold  and  rejected,  and  the  gold  is  then  washed  with  distilled 
water  and  dried.  The  second  washing  with  nitric  acid  is  to  re- 
move any  nitrate  of  mercury. 

The  resulting  gold  is  not  pure,  but  has  the  composition  of  the 
natural  alloy.  To  purify  it,  melt  it  with  silver,  hammer  it  out 
thin,  boil  twice  with  nitric  acid,  dry  and  heat  it  to  redness.      To 


GOLD   MINING   IN  ALASKA.  383 

calculate  the  assay,  take  each  of  the  original  2000  grammes  to 
mean  a  pound  and  decimals  of  a  gramme  to  mean  decimals  of  a 
pound.  Multiply  the  value  of  gold  by  the  fraction  of  a  gramme 
produced,  and  the  result  will  be  the  value  of  the  gold  in  a  ton. 
In  this  same  connection  it  may  be  noted  that  it  is  important, 
in  estimating  the  value  of  purchased  gold  dust  to  examine  care- 
fully to  see  if  there  is  any  counterfeit  or  "  bogus  "  dust  present. 
If  all  from  the  same  locality  the  ckist  will  have  a  uniform  color. 
A  fair  sample  of  the  whole  lot  of  dust  under  inspection  should 
be  placed  in  an  evaporating  dish  and  nitric  acid  poured  upon  it. 
If  any  reaction  takes  place  there  is  foreign  matter  present. 

Locating  the    Claims. 

If  the  prospects  indicate  a  claim  that  will  pay  for  working, 
the  miner's  first  step  is  to  locate  the  claim. 

The  manner  of  locating  placer  mining  claims  differs  from  that 
of  locating  claims  upon  veins  or  lodes.  In  locating  a  vein  or 
lode  claim,  the  United  States  statutes  provide  that  no  claim  shall 
extend  more  than  300  feet  on  each  side  of  the  middle  of  the 
vein  at  the  surface,  and  that  no  claim  shall  be  limited  by  mining 
regulations  to  less  than  25  feet  on  each  side  of  the  middle  vein 
at  the  surface.  In  locating  claims  called  "  placers,"  however, 
the  law  provides  that  no  location  of  such  claim  upon  surveyed 
lands  shall  include  more  than  20  acres  for  each  individual  claim- 
ant. The  supreme  court,  however,  has  held  that  one  individual 
can  hold  as  many  locations  as  he  can  purchase  and  rely  upon 
his  possessor}'  title  ;  that  a  separate  patent  for  each  location  is 
unnecessary. 

A  patent  for  any  land  claimed  and  located  may  be  obtained 
in  the  following  manner :  "Any  person,  association  or  corpora- 
tion authorized  to  locate  a  claim,  having  claimed  and  located  a 
piece  of  land,  and  who  has  or  have  complied  with  the  terms  of 


VM 


GOLD    MINING    IN   ALASKA. 


the  law,  may  file  in  the  proper  land  office  an  application  for  a 
patent  under  oath,  showing  such  compliance,  together  with  a 
plat  and  field  notes  of  the  claim  or  claims  in  common  made  by 
or  under  the  direction  of  the  United  States  surveyor  general, 
showing  accurately  the  boundaries  of  the  claim  or  claims,  which 


GUARDING    HIS    CLAIM. 

shall  be  distinctly  marked  by  monuments  on  the  ground,  and 
shall  post  a  copy  of  such  plat,  together  with  a  notice  of  such 
application  for  a  patent,  in  a  conspicuous  place  on  the  land 
embraced  in  such  plat,  previous  to  the  application  for  a  patent 
on  such  pk'.t ;  and  shall  file  an  affidavit  of  at  least  two  persons 


GOLD    MINING    IN    ALASKA.  385 

that  such  notice  has  been  duly  posted,  and  shall  file  a  copy  of 
the  notice  in  such  land  office  ;  and  shall  thereupon  be  entitled 
to  a  patent  to  the  land  in  the  manner  following  :  The  registrar 
of  said  land  office  upon  the  filing  of  such  application,  plat,  field 
notes,  notices  and  application,  shall  publish  a  notice  that  such 
application  has  been  made  for  a  period  of  sixty  days,  in  a  news- 
paper to  be  by  him  designated,  as  published  nearest  to  such 
claim  ;  and  he  shall  post  such  notice  in  his  office  for  the  same 
period.  The  claimant  at  the  time  of  filing  such  application,  or 
at  any  time  thereafter,  within  sixty  days  of  publication,  shall  file 
with  the  registrar  a  certificate  of  the  United  States  surveyor 
general  that  $500  worth  of  labor  has  been  expended  or  improve- 
ments made  upon  the  claim  by  himself  or  grantors ;  that  the 
plat  is  correct,  with  such  further  description  by  reference  to  natural 
objects  or  permanent  monuments  as  shall  identify  the  claim  and 
furnish  an  accurate  description  to  be  incorporated  in  the  patent. 
y\t  the  expiration  of  the  sixty  days  of  publication,  the  claimant 
shall  file  his  affidavit,  showing  that  the  plat  and  notice  have  been 
posted  in  a  conspicuous  place  on  the  claim  during  such  period  of 
publication." 

If  no  adverse  claim  shall  have  been  filed  with  the  registrar  of 
the  land  office  at  the  expiration  of  said  sixty  days,  the  claimant 
is  entitled  to  a  patent  upon  the  payment  to  the  proper  officer  of 
$$  per  acre  in  the  case  of  a   lode  claim,  and  $2.50  per  acre   for 

a  placer. 

As  to  Local  Customs. 

The  location  of  a  placer  claim  and  keeping  possession  thereof 
until  a  patent  shall  be  issued  are  also  subject  to  local  customs, 
about  which  the  wise  miner  will  thoroughly  inform  himself.  In 
Alaska  the  holder  of  a  claim  is  required  to  do  at  least  $100 
worth  of  work  on  his  claim  every  year  for  five  years  to  get  an 
absolute  title  to  it.  He  has  the  privilege  of  doing  the  entire  ^500 
25 


386  GOLD    MINING    IN  .ALASKA. 

worth  of  work  at  once  if  he  chooses  to  do  so,  and  on  proof  of  it 
may  get  his  patent.  The  man  who  locates  a  claim  is  allowed  a 
full  year  before  he  puts  up  his  location  notice  for  working  the  first 
assessment,  during  which  time  his  right  is  absolute  and  is  also 
negotiable.  A  purchaser  fulfilling  the  obligation  entered  into 
by  the  discoverer  enjoys  the  same  rights. 

In  Alaska  and  in  the  Klondike  the  first  miners  in  a  district 
hold  a  meeting  and  fix  the  size  of  the  claims,  and  also  agree  as 
to  how  much  work  shall  constitute  an  assessment.  The  miners 
also  elect  a  register. 

The  size  of  a  claim,  as  fixed  by  agreement  among  the  miners 
of  any  particular  locality,  is  a  section  of  the  creek  of  a  certain 
length — sometimes  200  feet — and  it  extends  from  rim  to  rim  in 
width.  The  reason  of  this  variableness  in  the  size  of  claims  on 
the  different  creeks  is  that  on  some  a  greater  length  is  required 
to  make  them  worth  a  man's  while  to  work  them.  The  paying 
deposits  may  be  scattered  so  a  man  could  make  wages  only  by 
working  here  and  there  over  a  large  territory.  Of  course,  the 
conditions  surrounding  the  first  discovery  made  on  a  creek  are 
the  basis  for  fixing  the  size  of  a  claim  on  that  stream.  The  dis- 
coverer of  a  new  field  is  allowed  two  claims,  while  others  are 
permitted  to  take  but  one  at  a  time.  However,  when  a  locator 
has  worked  out  his  assessment  of  a  few  days'  work  he  is  at 
liberty  to  take  another. 

Commissioner  Herrman's  Digest. 

Commissioner  Herrman,  of  the  United  States  Land  Office  at 
Washington,  briefly  digested  the  law  bearing  on  placer  claims  as 
follows  : 

"  When  you  patent  a  claim  it  is  necessary  for  you  to  be  a  citi- 
zen of  the  United  States  or  to  have  declared  your  intention  of 
becoming  one. 


GOLD    MINING    IN   at.ASKA.  387 

"  This  l.;\v,  however,  is  of  little  consequence  when  placer  dig- 
ging is  concerned.  Under  our  laws  anybody  is  privileged  to 
dig  out  gold  wherever  it  is  found.  When  it  comes  to  taking  out 
a  patent  for  the  land  the  miner  will  have  exhausted  the  super- 
ficial supply  of  gold  and  moved  on. 

"  There  is  practically  no  need  of  taking  out  patents  for  placer 
mining.  The  miner  comes  along,  sees  a  likely  piece  of  ground, 
digs  up  a  few  panfuls,  extracts  the  gold,  if  there  is  any,  stays 
there  till  he  has  obtained  as  much  as  he  can  from  that  piece  of 
ground  with  his  primitive  implements,  and  then  moves  on  to 
another  likely  piece. 

"  Pretty  soon  along  comes  the  quartz  miner  with  his  machin- 
ery and  takes  out  a  claim  for  a  piece  of  ground  which  the  placer 
miner  may  have  worked  superficially." 

As  to  locations  on  the  Klondike,  see  the  chapter  an  "  Mining 

Laws." 

Getting  Out  the  Gold. 

Now  comes  the  hardest  part  of  the  miners'  work — getting  out 
the  golden  treasure. 

In  summer  in  Alaska  about  the  only  tools  required  in  the 
placers  are  a  pick,  shovel  and  gold  pan,  about  the  size  of  a  small 
dish  pan  and  made  of  copper  or  white  enameled  iron,  preferably 
the  latter  because  the  relief  enables  the  miner  to  see  the  gold 
more  distinctly  especially  when  it  is  in  fine  specks.  The  miner 
squats  beside  the  water,  dips  water  into  the  pan,  oscillates  it  with 
a  motion  that  can  only  be  acquired  by  experience,  and  gradually 
sloughs  out  the  wat'^r,  dirt,  gravel,  etc.,  retaining  the  gold  in  the 
pan.  Gold  being  the  heaviest  substance  it  is,  of  course,  the 
easiest  to  retain  in  the  pan.  If  it  be  in  the  shape  of  nuggets, 
the  miner  picks  them  out  of  the  pan  with  his  fingers  ;  if  the 
gold  be  in  small  particles,  fine  gold  or  "  flour  "  gold,  he  dries 
the  pan  in  the  sun   and   carefully  brushes    the   deposit  into    a 


388  GOLD    MINING    IN    ALASKA. 

piece  of  buckskin  or  other  material  used  for  carrying  the  pre- 
cious metal.  Some  miners  prefer  the  cradle  to  the  pan  for  get- 
ting gold. 

It  is  nearly  always  desirable,  but  not  always  possible,  to  have 
a  sluice.  This  sometimes  is  very  primitive.  It  may  be  only  a 
gully  bottomed  with  cobblestones,  or  plank  troughing,  with 
riffles  or  cleats  at  intervals  across  the  bottom.  In  either  case, 
the  gold-bearing  dirt  or  gravel  is  thrown  in  while  water  is  run- 
ning through  the  sluice.  The  current  is  supposed  to  carry  away 
the  worthless  rocks  and  dirt,  allowing  the  gold  to  sink  to  the 
bottom.  If  the  gold  is  in  finely  divided  particles,  the  sluice  is 
made  tight  and  quicksilver  is  placed  above  the  riffles,  which 
envelops  and  holds  the  gold  dust.  No  two  mines  are  exactly 
alike,  and  the  manner  of  working  them  has  to  be  varied  to  suit 

the  circumstances. 

Mining  in  Winter. 

In  placers  in  winter  in  Alaska  and  in  the  Klondike,  practically 
all  the  year  round,  it  is  necessary  to  melt  the  frozen  auriferous 
gravel  by  means  of  huge  fires  in  order  to  make  it  possible  to 
work  it  with  a  pick.  Formerly  miners  used  to  thaw  out  the 
whole  area  of  their  claims  down  to  bed  rock.  Now  they  sink  a 
shaft  to  the  bottom  of  the  gravel,  and  tunnel  along  underneath 
in  the  gold-bearing  layer.  As  the  tunnel  is  all  the  way  through 
the  solid  frozen  earth,  no  shoring  is  required,  and  the  only 
expense  for  timber  is  for  fuel. 

The  way  in  which  the  tunneling  is  done  is  interesting,  as  it 
has  to  be  carried  on  in  cold  weather,  when  everything  is  frozen. 
The  miners  build  fires  over  the  area  which  they  wish  to  work, 
and  keep  them  lighted  for  the  space  of  about  twenty-four  hours. 
Then,  at  the  expiration  of  this  period,  the  gravel  will  be  melted 
and  softened  to  a  depth  of  perhaps  six  inches.  This  is  then 
taken  off  and  other  fires  built,  until  the  gold-bearing  layer  is 


GOLD   MINING    IN   ALASKA.  389 

reached.  When  the  shaft  is  down  so  far  fires  are  built  at  the 
bottom,  against  the  sides  of  the  layer,  and  tunnels  made  in  this 
manner.  Dry  wood  is  piled  against  the  face  of  the  drift,  and 
then  other  pieces  arc  set  slantwise  over  the  heap  of  fuel.  As 
the  fire  burns,  the  gravel  falls  down  from  above  and  gradually 
covers  the  slanting  shield  of  wood.  The  fire  smoulders  away 
and  becomes  charcoal  burning.  It  is  when  it  reaches  this  con- 
fined stage  during  the  night  that  its  heat  is  most  effective  against 
the  face  of  the  drift.  Next  day  the  miner  finds  the  face  of  his 
drift  thawed  out  for  a  distance  of  from  ten  to  eighteen  inches, 
according  to  conditions.  He  shovels  out  dirt,  and  if  only  part 
is  pay  dirt  he  puts  only  that  on  his  dump.  Thus,  at  the  rate  of 
a  few  inches  a  day,  drifting  out  of  precious  gravel  goes  on,  and 
the  dump  is  slowly  added  to  until  spring,  when  the  torrents 
come  down,  and  the  washing  and  sluicing  and  cradling  begin. 

Work  on  the  Yukon. 

The  mines  of  the  Yukon  are  of  a  class  by  themselves,  and  it 
is  necessary  to  follow  new  methods  for  getting  the  gold.  To 
begin  with,  the  ground  is  frozen.  From  the  roots  of  the  moss, 
which  often  is  more  than  a  foot  thick,  to  the  greatest  depth  that 
ever  has  been  reached,  the  ground  is  as  hard  as  a  bone.  The  gold 
is  found  in  a  certain  drift  of  gravel,  which  lies  at  varying  depths, 
often  as  far  down  as  twenty  feet.  Only  that  portion  of  the  gravel 
just  above  hard  pan — by  which  is  usually  meant  clay — carries 
gold  in  any  quantity,  and  in  favored  localities  this  particular  gravel 
is  extraordinarily  rich.  In  fact,  there  is  more  free  gold  found 
within  the  same  space,  taking  the  whole  district  through,  than 
ever  was  found  anywhere  in  placers.  Toward  the  heads  of  the 
creeks,  and  likewise  toward  the  original  source  of  the  mineral, 
the  gravel  is  found  nearer  the  surface  than  at  places  further  down 
the  streams.     It  is  also  coarser  gold,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it 


390  GOLD   MINING    IN  ALASKA. 

covers  a  narrower  strip  of  the  valley.      Going  down  the  creeks, 

the  deposit  is  spread  out  over  a  much  wider  area,  and  is  deeper 

in  the  ground.     The  gold  is  in  smaller  particles,  but  the  quantity 

may  be  as  great   as  anywhere.     As  in  nearly  all  placer  mines, 

the  low  places  of  what  has  formerly  been  the  bed  of  the  creek 

are  the   richest,  the    deposits   decreasing  in  quantity  toward  the 

outer  edges. 

Another  Description. 

Land  Surveyor  Ogilvie  gives  the  following  description  of  a 
method  of  placer  mining  in  vogue  across  the  border : 

"The  process  of  placer  mining  is  about  as  follows:  After 
clearing  all  the  coarse  gravel  and  stones  off  a  patch  of  ground, 
the  miner  lifts  a  little  of  the  firmer  gravel  or  sand  in  his  pan, 
which  is  a  broad,  shallow  dish,  made  of  strong  sheet-iron  ;  he 
then  puts  in  water  enough  to  fill  the  pan  and  gives  it  a  few  rapid 
whirls  and  shakes  ;  this  tends  to  bring  the  gold  to  the  bottom  on 
account  of  its  great  specific  gravity.  The  dish  is  then  shaken 
and  held  in  such  a  way  that  the  gravel  and  sand  are  gradually 
washed  out,  care  being  taken  to  avoid  letting  out  the  finer  and 
heavier  parts  that  have  settled  to  the  bottom.  Finally  all  that  is 
left  in  the  pan  is  whatever  gold  may  have  been  in  the  dish,  and 
some  black  sand  which  almost  invariably  accompanies  it.  This 
black  sand  is  nothing  but  pulverized  magnetic  iron  ore. 

■  "Should  the  gold  thus  found  be  fine,  the  contents  of  the  pan 
are  thrown  into  a  barrel  containing  water  and  a  pound  or  two  of 
mercury.  As  soon  as  the  gold  comes  in  contact  with  the  mer- 
cury it  combines  and  forms  an  amalgam.  This  process  is  con- 
tinued until  enough  amalgam  has  been  formed  to  pay  for  '  roast- 
ing' or  'firing.'  It  is  then  squeezed  through  abuckskin  bag,  all 
the  mercury  that  comes  through  the  bag  being  put  back  into  the 
barrel  to  serve  again,  and  what  remains  in  the  bag  is  placed  in  a 
retort,  if  the  miner  has  one,  or.  if  not,  on  a  shovel,  and  heated 


GOLD    MINING    IN   ALASKA.  391 

until  nearly  all  the  mercur\-  i.;  vaporized.  The  gold  then  re- 
mains in  a  lump  with  some  mercury  still  held  in  combination 
with  it.  This  is  called  the  'pan'  or  'hand'  method,  and  is  never, 
on  account  of  its  slowness  and  laboriousness,  continued  for  any 
length  of  time  when  it  is  possible  to  procure  a  '  rocker,'  or  to 
make  and  work  sluices. 

Sluicing  for  Gold. 

"  Sluicing  is  always  emplo)-ed  when  possible.  It  requires  a 
good  supply  of  water,  with  sufficient  head  or  fall.  The  process 
is  as  follows  :  Planks  are  procured  and  formed  into  a  box  of 
suitable  width  and  depth.  Slats  are  fixed  across  the  bottom  of 
the  box  at  suitable  intervals,  or  shallow  holes  bored  in  the 
bottom  in  such  order  that  no  particle  could  run  along  the  bottom 
in  a  straight  line  and  escape  running  over  a  hole.  Several  of 
these  boxes  are  then  set  up  with  a  considerable  slope,  and  are 
fitted  into  one  another  at  the  ends,  like  a  stovepipe.  A  stream 
of  water  is  now  directed  into  the  upper  end  of  the  highest  box. 
The  gravel  having  been  collected,  as  in  the  case  of  the  rocker, 
it  is  shoveled  into  the  upper  box,  and  is  washed  downward  by 
the  strong  current  of  water.  The  gold  is  detained  by  its  weight, 
and  is  held  by  the  slats  or  in  the  holes  mentioned  ;  if  it  is  fine, 
mercury  is  placed  behind  the  slats  or  in  these  holes  to  catch  it. 

"  In  this  way  about  three  times  as  much  dirt  can  be  washed 
as  by  the  rocker,  and  consequently  three  times  as  much  gold 
can  be  secured  in  a  given  time. 

"  A  great  many  of  the  miners  spend  their  time  in  the  summer 
in  prospecting,  and  in  the  winter  resort  to  what  is  called  '  burn- 
ing.' They  make  fires  on  the  surface,  thus  thawing  the  ground 
until  the  bedrock  is  reached.  The  pay  dirt  is  brought  to 
the  surface  and  heaped  in  a  pile  until  spring,  when  water  can 
be  obtained.      The  sluice  boxes  are  then  set  up  and  the  dirt  is 


392  GOLD   MINING   IN   ALASKA. 

washed  out,  thus  enabling  the  miner  to  work  advantageously 
and  profitably  the  year  round." 

Captain  J.  F.  Higgins,  of  the  steamer  Excelsior,  one  of  the 
Alaska  boats,  wrote  to  a  friend  in  San  Diego  the  following  story 
of  good  luck  in  the  Yukon  placers  : 

"  There  is  about  fifteen  feet  of  dirt  above  bedrock,  the  pay 
streak  averaging  from  four  to  six  feet,  which  is  tunneled  out 
while  the  ground  is  frozen.  Of  course,  the  ground  taken  out  is 
thawed  by  building  fires,  and  when  the  thaw  comes  and  water 
rushes  in  they  set  their  sluices  and  wash  the  dirt.  Two  of  our 
fellows  thought  a  small  bird  in  the  hand  worth  a  large  one  in 
the'bush  and  sold  their  claims  for  ;^45,ooo,  getting  ;^4500  down, 
the  remainder  to  be  paid  in  monthly  installments  of  ;^  10,000 
each.  The  purchasers  had  no  more  than  ;^5000  paid.  They 
were  twenty  days  thawing  and  getting  out  dirt.  Then  there  was 
no  water  to  sluice  with,  but  one  fellow  made  a  rocker,  and  in 
ten  days  took  out  the  ^10,000  for  the  first  installment.  So,  tun- 
neling and  rocking,they  took  out  ^40,000  before  there  was  water 

to  sluice  with." 

Dry  Placer  Miners. 

Machines  known  as  "  dry  placer  miners  "  are  in  use  in  various 
southern  diggings  and  may  be  expected  to  make  their  appear- 
ance in  Alaska  and  the  Klondike  soon,  where  it  is  believed  they 
would  be  peculiarly  well  adapted  to  the  conditions  imposed  on 
mining  by  the  climate.  A  feature  of  some  of  these  dry  washers 
is  that,  unlike  sluicing  or  hydraulicking,  they  will  effect  a  separ- 
ation of  the  gold  from  the  black  sand. 

The  principle  in  these  dry  washers  is  that  of  the  air  blast  re- 
moving or  blowing  the  fine  sand  or  dust  from  the  finely  pulver- 
ized material  which  is  fed  upon  a  panning  table  of  perforated 
metal  covered  with  cloth  and  crossed  by  copper  riffles.  The 
sand  and  earthy  dust  are  blown  away,  the  gangue  rolls  down 


GOLD   MINING   IN   ALASKA.  893 

the  incline  over  the  riffles,  and  is  discharged  as  tailings,  and 
the  sold  settles  on  the  cloth  behind  the  riffles  and  is  removed  in 
the  daily  "clean  up."  A  small  size  of  dry  washer  is  made  for 
prospectors. 

A  combination  sled  and  gold  "  rocker"  is  being  largely  sold. 
It  is  about  six  feet  long,  eighteen  inches  wide  and  the  runners 
stand  up  about  ten  inches.  The  "bed,"  when  taken  off,  consti- 
tutes a  "rocker"  of  a  form  approved  by  miners.  It  is  claimed 
that  300  pounds  of  provisions,  besides  a  miner's  outfit  of  tools 

can  be  carried  on  it. 

Dredging   for  Gold. 

One  of  the  new  schemes  for  getting  the  gold  out  of  the  Yukon 
is  to  dredge  the  river  bed.  A  company  has  been  formed  to 
carry  out  the  work,  and  intends  beginning  work  in  the  great  river 
in  the  spring.  The  promoter  argues  that  the  gold  deposits  of 
the  rivers  and  creeks  are  the  results  of  the  washing  down  by 
high  waters  and  the  carrying  down  of  ice  floes.  Upon  this  as- 
sumption the  argument  is  made  that  in  the  deeper  channel  the 
gold  has  sunk  lower,  and,  as  the  dredgers  will  work  down  to 
bed  rock,  the  belief  is  that  the  result  of  pumping  from  the  bottom 
will  be  proportionately  richer. 

An  experiment  is  being  conducted  in  Frazier  River  in  the  use 
of  centrifugal  pumps  on  barges  to  pump  up  the  earth  along  the 
bottom  of  the  river  and  wash  out  the  gold  that  has  been  deposi- 
ted there  for  ages.  The  nozzles  of  these  pumps,  which  are 
screened  to  prevent  big  bowlders  from  being  taken  in,  are  forced 
to  the  bottom  of  the  river,  and  as  the  sand  and  water  reach  the 
top  of  the  barge  they  are  carefully  screened,  so  that  all  the  gold 
is  secured.  If  the  experiment  proves  a  success  it  will  revolu- 
tionize placer  mining. 

A  report  on  the  Birch  Creek  district,  issued  during  the  summer 
of  1 897,  says  : 


394  GOLD   MINING   IN   ALASKA. 

"  Sonic  miners  have  planned  to  work  this  and  other  good 
ground  supposed  to  exist  under  the  deep  covering  of  moss  and 
gravel  in  the  wide  valley  of  the  Mammoth  and  Crooked  Creeks, 
ly  hydraulicking,  the  water  to  be  obtained  by  tapping  Miller  and 
Mastadon  Creeks  near  the  head." 

A  machine  has  recently  been  invented,  intended  to  use  Alaska 
petroleum  if  it  can  be  had  in  sufficient  quantities,  and  if  not,  oil 
brought  from  the  States  or  from  Ontario,  by  means  of  which  it 
is  expected  to  thaw  the  frozen  gravel  and  drift  in  the  placer  beds, 
and  vastly  cheapen  and  expedite  the  process  of  gathering  the  gold. 
The  machine  is  so  light  that  one  man  can  easily  handle  and 
move  it  from  place  to  place. 

The  fuel  oil  is  contained  in  a  tank  which  is  mounted  on  wheels, 

and  is  provided  with  a  blower  to  force  air  into  the  tank  and  oil 

out.     A  lead  of  pipe  runs  under  a  piece  of  sheet  iron,  usually 

three  feet  long  by  twenty  inches  wide,  which  has  beveled  sides. 

JJeneath  the  cover  is  a  coil  of  perforated  pipe  through  which  the 

oil  makes   its  escape   and  is    burned.      It  is  so  arranged  there  is 

always  a  downward  draft,  and  the  force  of  the  flame  is  continually 

against  the  ground. 

Old   Miner's  Advice. 

Here  is  some  good  advice  by  an  old  miner  to  "  tenderfeet," 
who  are  apt  to  stampede  easily  and  be  led  to  run  aftei'  false  gods  : 

"  If  you  have  once  got  a  claim  that  is  paying  a  faiil)'  satisfac- 
tory amount  of  gold  stick  to  it.  You  are  just  about  as  apt  to 
strike  a  rich  pocket  there  as  anywhere  else,  and  it  is  much  better 
to  be  taking  out  even  a  comparatively  small  sum  regularly  than 
to  spend  your  time  roving  from  one  place  to  another,  and  get- 
ting next  to  nothing  anywhere.  You  have  got  to  have  perse- 
verance, and  be  willing  to  plod  in  this  pursuit,  as  well  as  in  any 
other,  if  you  want  to  succeed  in  it." 

It  is  advice  worth  pondering  and  heeding. 


HYDIIAULIC    MINING WASHING    OUT    THi:    GOLlJ. 


395 


396  GOLD   MINING   IN   ALASKA. 

Placers,  wherever  found,  are  indications  of  gold-bearing  veins 
in  the  neighborhood.  Alaska  is  believed  to  be  no  exception  to 
the  apparent  rule.  That  rich  quartz  will  be  found  in  the  high- 
lands of  the  Territory  there  seems  to  be  no  good  reason  to 
dojibt,  and  the  day  when  the  subterranean  mining  industry  will 
be  the  principal  resource  of  the  "  Seward  Purchase  "  may  not  be 
far  distant.  As  usual,  the  first  craze  was  over  the  placers,  but 
the  extraordinary  richness  of  the  surfacings  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  men  of  capital,  and  their  agents  are  already  in  the  field 
prospecting  for  gold-bearing  quartz.  The  sequence  of  develop- 
ment in  new  gold  fields  is  always  the  same — first,  the  men  with 
pans  to  gather  the  riches  on  the  surface  ;  next,  miners  with  "  long 
Toms  "  ;  third,  hydraulicking,  and  then,  quartz  mining  under- 
ground.    Alaska    may  break   the   record   for   getting    into   the 

fourth  stage. 

How  Gold  Came  to  Klondike. 

Professor  Frederick  Wright,  writing  of  "  How  Gold  Came  to 
the  Klondike,"  says  : 

"  Little  is  known  about  the  geology  of  the  Yukon  River,  w-here 
the  Klondike  mines  have  been  found.  Being  placer  mines,  the 
gold  may  have  been  transported  many  miles.  The  means  of 
transportation  are  both  glaciers  and  rivers.  The  Klondike  region 
is  on  the  north  side  of  the  St.  Elias  Alps.  Alaska  was  never 
completely  covered  with  glacial  ice.  The  glaciers  flowed  both 
north  and  south  from  these  summits.  Dawson  and  Professor 
Russell  both  report  w^ell-defined  terminal  moraines  across  the 
upper  Yukon  Valley.  The  source  of  the  Klondike  gold,  there- 
fore, is  from  the  south. 

Placer  mines  originate  in  the  disintegration  of  gold-bearing 
quartz  veins  or  mass  like  that  at  Juneau.  Under  subaerial  agen- 
cies these  become  dissolved.  Then  the  glaciers  transport  the 
material  as  far  as  they  go,  when  the  floods  of  water  carry  it  on 


GOLD   MINING   IN   ALASKA.  397 

still  further.  Gold,  being  heavier  than  the  other  materials  asso- 
ciated with  it,  lodges  in  the  crevasses  or  in  the  rough  places  at 
the  bottom  of  the  streams.  So  to  speak,  nature  has  stamped 
and  panned  the  gravel  first  and  prepared  the  way  for  man  to  finish 
the  work.  The  amount  of  gold  found  in  the  placer  mines  is 
evidence  not  so  much  perhaps  of  a  very  rich  vein  as  of  the  dis- 
integration of  a  very  large  vein. 

"  The  '  mother  lode  '  has  been  looked  for  in  vain  in  California, 
and  perhaps  will  be  so  in  Alaska.  But  it  exists  somewhere  up 
the  streams  on  which  the  placer  mines  are  found.  The  discovery 
of  gold  in  glacial  deposits  far  away  from  its  native  place  is 
familiar  to  American  geologists. 

"  It  is  evident,  however,  that  in  Alaska  the  transportation  of 
gold  has  not  gone  so  far." 

General  Duffield,  Superintendent  of  the  Coast  and  Geodetic 
Survey,  also  inclines  to  the  glacier  view.     He  says  : 

"  The  gold  has  been  ground  out  of  the  quartz  by  the  pressure 
of  the  glaciers,  which  lie  and  move  along  the  courses  of  the 
streams,  exerting  a  tremendous  pressure.  This  force  is  present 
to  a  more  appreciable  extent  in  Alaska  than  elsewhere,  and  I  be- 
lieve that  as  a  consequence  more  placer  gold  will  be  found  in 
that  region  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  world." 

Dr.  Everett's  Views. 

Dr.  Willis  E.  Everett,  of  Tacoma,  says  : 

"  Alaska  was  once  under  glaciers,  and  the  gold  now  found  un- 
doubtedly comes  from  glacial  action,  primarily,  which  has  been 
going  on  for  many  centuries.  The  miners  are  finding,  however, 
that  what  they  usually  consider  bed  rock  is  only  a  false  bed  rock, 
and  that  underneath  there  is  still  another  bed  rock,  with  larger 
lumps  of  gold  than  are  found  on  the  first.  I  believe  that  the 
country  in  the  interior,  back  of  Klondike,  will  furnish  enormous 


398  GOLD    MINING    IN   ALASKA. 

quantities  of  gold,  and  that  the  rich  strikes  already  made  are  but 
a  small  beginning.  The  district  will  prove  to  be  about  300  miles 
square." 

This  theory  of  Dr.  Everett  would  seem  to  be  borne  out  by 
the  experience  of  a  young  Chicago  "tenderfoot"  who,  being  un- 
learned in  miner's  traditions,  not  only  dug  down  to  hard-pan, 
but  went  straight  on  through  the  clay  and  found  a  fabulously 
rich  deposit  of  "dust"  and  nuggets.  Had  he  been  an  old  miner 
he  w'ould  have  stopped  at  hard-pan  and  the  treasure  would  not 
have  been  uncovered. 

Professor   Emmon's   Theory. 

Professor  S.  F.  Emmons,  of  the  Geological  Survey,  says  : 
"The  real  mass  of  golden  wealth  in  Alaska  remains  as  yet  un- 
touched. It  lies  in  the  virgin  rocks,  from  which  the  particles 
found  in  the  river  gravels  now  being  washed  by  the  Klondike 
miners  have  been  torn  by  the  erosion  of  streams.  These  parti- 
cles, being  heavy,  have  been  deposited  by  the  streams,  w^hich 
carried  the  lighter  matter  onward  to  the  ocean,  thus  forming,  by 
gradual  accumulation,  a  sort  of  auriferous  concentrate.  Many 
of  the  bits,  especially  in  certain  localities,  are  big  enough  to  be 
called  nuggets.  In  spots  the  gravels  are  so  rich  that,  as  we 
have  all  heard,  many  ounces  of  the  yellow  metal  are  obtained 
from  the  washing  of  a  single  panful.  That  is  w^hat  is  making 
the  people  so  wild — the  prospect  of  picking  money  out  of  the 
dirt  by  the  handful  literally." 

Gold-bearing  quartz  is  plentiful  in  the  southeastern  portion  of 
Alaska,  around  the  great  Alaska-Treadwell  and  Alaska-Mexican 
mines  and  their  smaller  likenesses.  Such  quartz  has  been  found 
in  Cone  Hill,  midway  in  the  valley  of  the  Forty-Mile,  and  vague 
reports  of  quartz  finds  worth  working  have  come  in  from  other 
sections  which  the  winter's    prospecting  is  expected  to  verify. 


GOLD   MINING    IN   ALASKA.  399 

And  in  the  spring,  too,  "  Lucky  "  Baldwin  starts  out  to  find  the 
"  mother  lode."  There  is  no  doubt  that  lode  mining  will  be 
carried  on  in  the  Alaskan  mountains  when  the  country  is  settled. 

Banks   and    Banking. 

After  the  miner  on  the  Yukon  has  dug  and  panned  out  his 
gold,  although  the  country  is  full  of  naturally  honest  men  and 
of  others  as  honest  as  a  wholesome  fear  of  Judge  Lynch  can 
make  them,  his  next  thought  will  be  where  he  can  stow  it  away 
and  keep  it  safe  till  he  gets  ready  to  carry  it  back  to  civilization. 
Heretofore  he  has  deposited  it,  if  he  banked  it  all,  with  Captain 
Healy  in  his  safe  at  Circle  City  Next  year  he  will  have  bank- 
ing facilities  of  approved  pattern  at  his  very  door. 

The  North  American  Transportation  and  Trading  Company 
has  decided  to  carry  out  the  plan  of  establishing  five,  and  possi- 
bly six,  banks  on  the  Yukon,  at  Dawson  City,  Fort  Cudahy 
Circle  City,  Fort  Get  There  and  St.  Michael's.  W.  H.  Hubbard, 
of  Chicago,  went  into  the  basin  via  the  Chilkoot  Pass  in  August 
to  complete  the  arrangements  for  opening  the  institutions.  Be- 
fore leaving  for  Alaska,  he  said  : 

"The  banks  will  be  primarily  banks  of  exchange.  We  shall 
accept  gold  dust  and  sell  exchange  on  Chicago,  New  York  and 
San  Francisco  for  it.  In  Chicago  we  shall  accept  currency  and 
issue  letters  of  credit  to  those  going  into  the  mines. 

"As  I  understand  it,  gold  dust  is  the  only  '  currency '  in  the 
interior  of  Alaska.  It  passes  current  for  $1^  an  ounce,  its 
market  value  being  a  trifle  more  than  that  amount.  Gold  dust 
is  used  even  in  petty  transactions,  as  there  is  not  enough  silver 
for  change.  A  miner  going  into  a  saloon  for  a  drink  takes  out 
his  bag  of  dust,  lays  it  on  the  bar,  and  the  saloon-keeper  weighs 
the  fifty  cents  or  one  dollar  and  hands  back  the  change.  All 
supplies  are  paid  for  in  like  manner. 


400  GOLD    MINING    IN    ALASKA. 

"  Loans  by  the  banks  will  be  a  later  consideration.  No 
doubt  traders  will  flock  in  and  all  kinds  of  business  established. 
The  merchants  there  as  elsewhere  probably  will  need  accommo- 
dations, and  where  their  standing  warrants  it  we  shall  let  them 
have  money.  The  banking  business  is  in  embryo.  My  work 
will  be  to  establish  it  at  the  five  posts  which  the  North  American 
Company  has  founded." 

The  Canadian  Government  has  under  consideration  a  project 
for  the  establishment  of  a  "treasure  house  "  at  Dawson  City  in 
which  will  be  stored  the  miners'  gold  and  for  which  they  will 
receive  drafts  on  United  States  or  Canadian  banks  for  the  full 
market  value  of  their  "  dust." 

If  the  gold  is  stored  in  a  central  place,  under  this  proposed 
plan,  the  officials  of  the  law  will  find  the  task  of  preserving 
order  greatly  simplified,  for  the  miners  will  not  be  under  the 
necessity  of  carrying  arms,  nor  will  the  rougher  sort  likely 
spend  as  much  gold  in  riotous  living.  It  will,  of  course,  be 
necessary  for  the  government  to  take  great  precaution  to  insure 
the  safety  of  the  gold,  but  the  presence  of  fifty  or  a  hundred 
mounted  police  and  three  or  four  Maxim  guns  will  be  a  great 
deterrent  to  the  envious  and  greedy. 

Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.  will  likely  establish   an  office  in  Dawson 

City  in  the  spring. 

Effects  of  Discovery. 

Touching  the  effect  of  the  discovery  of  gold  in  Alaska, 
Director  of  the  Mint  Preston,  said  : 

"It  is  too  early  to  determine.  We  cannot  expect  to  see 
any  material  effect  in  the  London  market,  where  gold  is  quoted 
every  day,  until  a  year  or  two  have  passed. 

"I  should  judge  from  all  accounts  that  the  discoveries  of  the 
Klondike  region  would  add  a  tremendous  amount  of  gold  to  the 
world's   stock.      The  tendency   of   this   will  be,   of  course,  to 


GOLD   MINING   IN  ALASKA.  401 

increase  the  value  of  silver,  but  I  doubt  if  it  will  very  greatly 
raise  its  market  value.  At  any  rate,  we  must  wait  from  one  to 
two  years  to  determine  that. 

"  It  is  unfair  to  assume  that  the  increase  in  the  value  of  silver 
resulting  from  the  discovery  of  gold  in  Alaska  will  be  anything 
like  that  which  resulted  in  the  early  '50s  from  the  discoveries  in 
California  and  in  Australia.  At  that  time  the  supply  of  silver 
in  the  United  States  was  almost  nil,  and  there  was  very  little 
silver  coinage.  At  the  present  time,  however,  there  is  so  much 
silver  that  the  world,  as  the  market  has  indicated  this  week,  does 
not  know  what  to  do  with  it.  There  cannot  be  expected,  there- 
fore, a  very  high  jump  in  the  price  of  silver  under  any  discovery 
of  gold." 
26 


CHAPTER    XIV. 
Resume  of  Mining  Laws. 

Law  and  Order — Fees  for  Mining — Rights  of  Miners — Quartz  Mining — 
Surveys  and  Reservations — Voice  of  the  Press — Penalties  Imposed — Call 
for  United  States  Troops — Size  of  Claims — Canadian  Laws. 

IN  gold  mining  the  law  may  be  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  but 
it  is  not  the  rule  of  the  strongest.     Every  phase  of  the 
work  is  hedged  around  by  legal  enactments,  and  the  miners 
are  obliged  to  observe  as  much  red  tape,  away  out  in  the  wilder- 
ness, thousands  of  miles  from  civilization,  as  a  citizen  would  in 
New  York  or  Chicago. 

On  the  American  side  of  the  boundary  line  all  mining  opera- 
tions are  subject  only  to  the  United  States  mining  laws  and  the 
general  laws  of  the  State  of  Oregon,  as  they  existed  in  1884, 
when  the  law  providing  a  civil  government  for  Alaska  was 
passed. 

That  law  provided  "  that  the  general  laws  of  the  State  of 
Oregon  now  in  force  are  hereby  declared  to  be  the  law  in  said 
district,  so  far  as  the  same  be  applicable  and  not  in  conflict  with 
the  provisions  of  this  act  or  the  laws  of  the  United  States." 

Thus  the  laws  of  Oregon  in  force  May  17,  1884,  are  the  laws 
of  Alaska.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  little  attention  to 
niceties  of  detail  is  ever  paid.  In  a  large  sense,  the  law  of 
the  miners  is  an  unwritten  code,  but  that  code  is  kept  within  the 
legal  statutes. 

On  the  Canadian  side  of  the  boundary — that  is,  in  Klondike — 
the  mining  laws  of  British  Columbia  are  in  force.  For  the  con- 
venience of  readers  who  may  contemplate  trying  their  fortunes 
in  the  great  Northwest  a  digest  of  the  mining  laws  of  both  coun- 
tries is  herewith  given. 

402 


RESUME   OF   MINING   LAWS.  403 

The  Placer  Mining  Law  of  the  United  States,  from  the  Revised 
Statutes,  provides  as  follows  : 

The  term  "  placer  claim  "  as  defined  by  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States,  is  :  "  Ground  within  defined  boundaries  which 
contains  mineral  in  its  earth,  sand  or  gravel  ;  ground  that  in- 
cludes valuable  deposits  not  in  place,  that  is,  not  fixed  in  rock, 
but  which  are  in  a  loose  state,  and  may  in  most  cases  be  collected 
by  washing  or  amalgamation  without  milling." 

The  manner  of  locating  placer  mining  claims  differ  from  that 
of  locating  claims  upon  veins  or  lodes.  In  locating  a  vein  or 
lode  claim,  the  United  States  Statutes  provide  that  no  claim  shall 
extend  more  than  300  feet  on  each  side  of  the  middle  of  the  vein 
at  the  surface,  and  that  no  claim  shall  be  limited  by  mining  regu- 
lations to  less  than  25  feet  on  each  side  of  the  middle  of  the  vein 
at  the  surHice.  In  locating  claims  called  "placers,"  however, 
the  law  provides  that  no  location  of  such  claim  upon  surveyed 
lands  shall  include  more  than  20  acres  for  each  individual  claim- 
ant. The  Supreme  Court,  however,  has  held  that  one  individual 
can  hold  as  many  locations  as  he  can  purchase  and  rely  upon 
his  possessory  title  ;  that  a  separate  patent  for  each  location  is 
unnecessary. 

Proof  of  Citizenship. 

Locaters,  however,  have  to  show  proof  of  citizenship  or  inten- 
tion to  become  citizens.  This  may  be  done  in  the  case  of  an 
individual  by  his  own  affidavit ;  in  the  case  of  an  association  in- 
corporated by  a  number  of  individuals  by  the  affidavit  of  their 
authorized  agent,  made  on  his  own  knowledge  or  upon  informa- 
tion and  belief;  and  in  the  case  of  a  company  organized  under 
the  laws  of  any  State  or  Territory,  by  the  filing  of  a  certified 
copy  of  the  charter  or  certificate  of  incorporation. 

A  patent  for  any  land  claimed  and  located  may  be  obtained 
in  the  following  manner:  "Any  person,  association  or  corpora- 


404  RESUME    OF    MINING    LAWS. 

tion  authorized  to  locate  a  claim,  having  claimed  and  located  a 
piece  of  land,  and  who  has  or  have  complied  with  the  terms  of 
the  law,  may  file  in  the  proper  land  office  an  application  for  a 
patent,  under  oath,  showing  such  compliance,  together  with  a 
plat  and  field  notes  of  the  claim  or  claims  in  common  made  by 
or  under  the  direction  of  the  United  States  Surveyor  General, 
showing  accurately  the  boundaries  of  the  claim  or  claims,  which 
shall  be  distinctly  marked  by  monuments  on  the  ground,  and 
shall  post  a  copy  of  such  plat,  together  with  a  notice  of  such 
application  for  a  patent,  in  a  conspicuous  place  on  the  land  em- 
braced in  such  plat,  previous  to  the  application  for  a  patent  on 
such  plat ;  and  shall  file  an  affidavit  of  at  least  two  persons  that 
such  notice  has  been  duly  posted,  and  shall  file  a  copy  of  the 
notice  in  such  land  office  ;  and  shall  thereupon  be  entitled  to  a 
patent  to  the  land  in  the  manner  following  : 

Publishing  of  Notices. 

"The  registrar  of  said  land  office  upon  the  fihng  of  such  appli- 
cation, plat,  field  notes,  notices  and  affidavits,  shall  publish  a 
notice  that  such  application  has  been  made,  for  a  period  of  sixty 
days,  in  a  newspaper  to  be  by  him  designated,  as  published 
nearest  to  such  claim  ;  and  he  shall  post  such  notice  in  his  office 
for  the  same  period.  The  claimant  at  the  time  of  filing  such  ap- 
plication or  at  any  time  thereafter,  within  sixty  days  of  publica- 
tion, shall  file  with  the  registrar  a  certificate  of  the  United  States 
Surveyor  General  that  $500  worth  of  labor  has  been  expended 
or  improvements  made  upon  the  claim  by  himself  or  grantors  ; 
that  the  plat  is  correct,  with  such  further  description  by  refer- 
ence to  natural  objects  or  permanent  monuments  as  shall  identify 
the  claim  and  furnish  an  accurate  description  to  be  incorporated 
in  the  patent.  At  the  expiration  of  the  sixty  days  of  publication, 
the  claimant  shall  file  his   affidavit  showing  that  the  plat  and 


RESUME   OF   MINING   LAWS.  405 

notice  have  been  posted  in  a  conspicuous  place  on  the  claim  dur- 
ing such  period  of  publication." 

If  no  adverse  claim  shall  have  been  filed  with  the  registrar  of 
the  land  office  at  the  expiration  of  said  sixty  days,  the  claimant 
is  entitled  to  a  patent  upon  the  payment  to  the  proper  officer  of 
;$5  per  acre  in  the  case  of  a  lode  claim,  and  $2.<iO  per  acre  for  a 
placer. 

The  location  of  a  placer  claim  and  keeping  possession  thereof 
until  a  patent  shall  be  issued  are  subject  to  local  laws  and  customs. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  following  that  the  Mining  Laws  of 
British  Columbia  differ  somewhat  in  detail  from  those  of  the 
United  States,  but  are  designed  to  cover  essentially  the  same 
points  and  subserve  the  same  purpose.  The  Canadian  Statute*? 
make  these  provisions  : 

Placer  Mining — Registration  and  Fees. 

At  the  close  of  the  second  sitting  of  the  Canadian  Cabine 
it  was  announced  that  the  Government  had  decided  to  im. 
pose  a  royalty  on  all  placer  diggings  on  the  Yukon  in  addition 
to  ;^l  5  registration  fee  and  ;^  lOO  annual  assessment.  The  royalty 
will  be  lo  per  cent,  each  on  claims  with  an  output  of  $500  or 
less  monthly,  and  20  per  cent,  on  every  claim  yielding  above 
that  amount  monthly.  Besides  this  royalty  it  has  been  decided 
in  regard  to  all  future  claims  staked  out  on  other  streams  or 
rivers,  that  every  alternate  claim  should  be  the  property  of  the 
Government,  and  should  be  reserved  for  public  purposes  and 
sold  or  worked  by  the  Government  for  the  benefit  of  the  revenue 
of  the  Dominion. 

For  "  bar  diggings  " — A  strip  of  land  100  feet  wide  at  high- 
water  mark,  and  thence  extending  into  the  river  at  its  lowest 
water  level. 

For  "  dry  diggings  " — 100  feet  square. 


406  RESUME   OF   MINING   LAWS. 

For  "creek  and  river  claims  " — 500  feet  along  the  direction  of 
the  stream,  extending  in  width  from  base  to  base  of  the  hill  or 
bench  on  either  side.  The  width  of  such  claims,  however,  is 
limited  to  600  feet  when  the  benches  are  a  greater  distance  apart 
than  that.  In  such  a  case  claims  are  laid  out  in  areas  of  10 
acres,  with  boundaries  running  north  and  south,  east  and  west. 

For  "bench  claims  " — 100  feet  square. 

Size  of  claims  to  discoverers  or  parties  of  discoverers — To 
one  discoverer,  300  feet  in  length ;  to  a  party  of  two,  600  feet 
in  length  ;  to  a  party  of  three,  800  feet  in  length  ;  to  a  party  of 
four,  1000  feet  in  length  ;  to  a  party  of  more  than  four,  ordinary 
sized  claims  only. 

New  strata  of  auriferous  gravel  in  a  locality  where  claims  are 
abandoned,  or  dry  diggings  discovered  in  the  vicinity  of  bar 
diggings,  or  vice  versa,  shall  be  deemed  new  mines. 

Rights  and  Duties  of  Miners. 

Entries  of  grants  for  placer  mining  must  be  renewed  and 
entry  fee  paid  every  year. 

No  miner  shall  receive  more  than  one  claim  in  the  same  local- 
ity, but  may  hold  any  number  of  claims  by  purchase,  and  any 
number  of  miners  may  unite  to  work  their  claims  in  common, 
provided  an  agreement  be  duly  registered  and  a  registration  fee 
of  ;^ 5  be  duly  paid  therefor. 

Claims  may  be  mortgaged  or  disposed  of,  provided  such  dis- 
posal be  registered  and  a  registration  fee  of  ^2  be  paid  therefor. 

Although  miners  shall  have  exclusive  right  of  entry  upon 
their  claims  for  the  "  miner-like  "  working  of  them,  holders  of 
adjacent  claims  shall  be  granted  such  right  of  entry  thereon  as 
may  seem  reasonable  to  the  superintendent  of  mines. 

Each  miner  shall  be  entitled  to  so  much  of  the  water  not  pre- 
viously appropriated  flowing  through   or  past  his   claim  as  the 


RESUME   OF   MINING   LAWS.  407 

superintendent  of  mines  shall  deem  necessary  to  work  it,  and 
shall  be  entitled  to  drain  his  own  claim  free  of  charge. 

Claims  remaining  unworked  on  working  days  for  seventy-two 
hours  are  deemed  abandoned,  unless  sickness  or  other  reason- 
able cause  is  shown,  or  unless  the  grantee  is  absent  on  leave. 

For  the  convenience  of  miners  on  back  claims,  on  benches  or 
slopes,  permission  may  be  granted  by  the  superintendent  of 
mines  to  tunnel  through  claims  fronting  on  water  courses. 

In  case  of  the  death  of  a  miner,  the  provisions  of  abandon- 
ment do  not  apply  during  his  last  illness  or  after  his  decease. 

Acquisition  of  Mining  Locations. 

Marking  of  locations — Wooden  posts,  four  inches  square, 
driven  eighteen  inches  into  the  ground  and  projecting  eighteen 
inches  above  it,  must  mark  the  four  corners  of  a  location.  In 
rocky  ground  stone  mounds  three  feet  in  diameter  may  be  piled 
about  the  post.  In  timbered  land  well-blazed  lines  must  join 
the  posts.  In  rolling  or  uneven  localities  flattened  posts  must 
be  placed  at  intervals  along  the  lines  to  mark  them,  so  that  sub- 
sequent explorers  shall  have  no  trouble  in  tracing  such  lines. 

When  locations  are  bounded  by  lines  running  north  and  south, 
east  and  west,  the  stake  at  the  northeast  corner  shall  be  marked 
by  a  cutting  instrument  or  by  colored  chalk,  "  M.  L.  No.  i" 
(mining  location,  stake  number  i).  Likewise  the  southeasterly 
stake  shall  be  marked  "  M.  L.  No.  2,"  the  southwesterly  "  M.  L. 
No.  3  "  and  the  northwesterly  "  M.  L.  No.  4."  Where  the 
boundary  lines  do  not  run  north  and  south,  east  and  west,  the 
northerly  stake  shall  be  marked  i,  the  easterly  2,  the  southerly 
3  and  the  westerly  4.  On  each  post  shall  be  marked  also  the 
claimant's  initials  and  the  distance  to  the  next  post. 

Application  and  affidavit  of  discoverer — Within  sixty  days 
after  marking  his  location  the  claimant  shall  file  in  the   office  of 


408  RESUME    OF    MINING    LAWS. 

the  dominion  land  office  for  the  district  a  formal  declaration, 
sworn  to  before  the  land  agent,  describing  as  nearly  as  may  be 
the  locality  and  dimensions  of  the  location.  With  such  declara- 
tion he  must  pay  the  agent  an  entry  fee  of  $5. 

Receipt  issued  to  discoverer — Upon  such  payment  the  agent 
shall  grant  a  receipt  authorizing  the  claimant,  or  his  legal  repre- 
sentative, to  enter  into  possession,  subject  to  renewal  every  year 
for  five  years,  provided  that  in  these  five  years  $100  shall  be  ex- 
pended on  the  claim  in  actual  mining  operations.  A  detailed 
statement  of  such  expenditure  must  also  be  filed  with  the  agent 
of  Dominion  lands,  in  the  form  of  an  affidavit  corroborated  by  two 
reliable  and  disinterested  witnesses. 

Annual  renewal  of  location  certificate — Upon  payment  of  the 
$^  fee  therefor  a  receipt  shall  be  issued  entitling  the  claimant  to 
hold  the  location  for  another  year. 

Rules   for    Partnerships. 

Working  in  partnership — Any  party  of  four  or  less  neighbor- 
ing miners,  within  three  months  after  entering,  may,  upon  being 
authorized  by  the  agent,  make  upon  any  one  of  such  locations, 
during  the  first  and  second  years,  but  not  subsequently,  the  ex- 
penditure otherwise  required  on  each  of  the  locations.  An 
agreement,  however,  accompanied  by  a  fee  of  ;$  5,  must  be  filed 
with  the  agent.  Provided,  however,  that  the  expenditure  made 
upon  any  one  location  shall  not  be  applicable  in  any  manner  or 
for  any  purpose  to  any  other  location. 

Purchase  of  location — At  any  time  before  the  expiration  of 
five  years  from  date  of  entry  a  claimant  may  purchase  a  location 
upon  filing  with  the  agent  proof  that  he  has  expended  ;S500  in 
actual  mining  operations  on  the  claim  and  complied  with  all 
other  prescribed  regulations.  The  price  of  a  mining  location 
shall  he  $$  per  acre,  cash. 


RESUME    OF   MINING   LAWS. 


409 


On  making  an  application  to  purchase,  the  claimant  must 
deposit  with  the  agent  $50,  to  be  deemed  as  payment  to  the 
government  for  the  survey  of  his  location.     On  receipt  of  2:)lans 


IN    THE    HANDS    OF    A    VIGILANCE    COMMITTEE. 

and  field  notes,  and  approval  by  the  surveyor  general,  a  patent 
shall  issue  to  the  claimant. 

Reversion  of  title — Failure  of  a  claimant  to  prove  within  each 
year  the  expenditure  prescribed,  or  failure  to  pay  the  agent  the 


410  RESUME   OF   MINING   LAWS. 

full  cash  price,  shall  cause  the  claimant's  right  to  lapse  and  the 
location  to  revert  to  the  crown,  along  with  the  improvements 
upon  it. 

Rival  claimants — When  two  or  more  persons  claim  the  same 
location,  the  right  to  acquire  it  shall  be  in  him  who  can  prove  he 
was  the  first  to  discover  the  mineral  deposit  involved,  and  to  take 
possession  in  the  prescribed  manner.  Priority  of  discovery  alone, 
however,  shall  not  give  the  right  to  acquire.  A  subsequent  dis- 
coverer, who  has  complied  with  other  prescribed  conditions,  shall 
take  precedence  over  a  prior  discoverer  who  has  failed  so  to  comply. 

When  a  claimant  has  in  bad  faith  used  the  prior  discovery  of 
another  and  has  fraudulently  affirmed  that  he  made  independent 
discovery  and  demarcation,  he  shall,  apart  from  other  legal  con- 
sequences, have  no  claim,  forfeit  his  deposit  and  be  absolutely 
debarred  from  obtaining  another  location. 

Rival  applicants — Where  there  are  two  or  more  applicants  for 
a  mining  location,  neither  of  whom  is  the  original  discoverer,  the 
Minister  of  the  Interior  may  invite  competitive  tenders  or  put  it 
up  for  public  auction,  as  he  sees  fit. 

Transfer  of  Mining  Rights. 

Assignment  of  right  to  purchase — An  assignment  of  the  right 
to  purchase  a  location  shall  be  indorsed  on  the  back  of  the 
receipt  or  certificate  of  assignment,  and  execution  thereof 
witnessed  by  two  disinterested  witnesses.  Upon  the  deposit  of 
such  receipt  in  the  office  of  the  land  agent,  accompanied  by  a 
registration  fee  of  $2,  the  agent  shall  give  the  assignee  a  certifi- 
cate entitling  him  to  all  the  rights  of  the  original  discoverer.  By 
complying  with  the  prescribed  regulations  such  assignee  becomes 
entitled  to  purchase  the  location. 

Regulations  in  respect  to  placer  mining,  so  far  as  they  relatje 
to  entries,  entry  fees,  assignments,  marking  of  locations,  agents' 


RESUME   OF   MINING   LAWS.  411 

receipts,  etc.,  except  where  otherwise  provided,  apply  also  to 
quartz  mining. 

Nature  and  size  of  claims — A  location  shall  not  exceed  the 
following  dimensions:  Length,  1500  feet;  breadth,  600  feet. 
The  surface  boundaries  shall  be  from  straight  parallel  Hnes,  and 
its  boundaries  beneath  the  surface  the  planes  of  these  lines. 

Limit  to  number  of  locations — Not  more  than  one  mining 
location  shall  be  granted  to  any  one  individual  claimant  upon 
the  same  lode  or  vein. 

Mill  sites — Land  used  for  milling  purposes  may  be  applied 
for  and  patented,  either  in  connection  with  or  separate  from  a 
mining  location,  and  may  be  held  in  addition  to  a  mining  loca- 
tion, provided  such  additional  land  shall  in  no  case  exceed  five 
acres. 

General   Provisions. 

Decision  of  disputes — The  Superintendent  of  Mines  shall  have 
power  to  hear  and  determine  all  disputes  in  regard  to  mining 
property  arising  within  his  district,  subject  to  appeal  by  either  of 
the  parties  to  the  commissioner  of  dominion  lands. 

Leave  of  absence — Each  holder  of  a  mining  location  shall  be 
entitled  to  be  absent  and  suspend  work  on  his  diggings  during 
the  "  close  "  season,  which  "  close  "  season  shall  be  declared  by 
the  agent  in  each  district,  under  instructions  from  the  minister  of 
the  interior. 

The  agent  ma\'  grant  a  leave  of  absence  pending  the  decision 
of  any  dispute  before  him. 

Any  miner  is  entitled  to  a  year's  leave  of  absence  upon  prov- 
ing expenditure  of  not  less  than  $200  without  any  reasonable 
return  of  gold. 

The  time  occupied  by  a  locator  in  going  to  and  returning  from 
the  ofifice  of  the  agent  or  of  the  superintendent  of  mines  shall 
not  count  against  him. 


412  RESUME   OF   MINING   LAWS. 

Additional  locations — The  minister  of  the  interior  may  grant 
to  a  person  actually  developing  a  location  an  adjoining  location 
equal  in  size,  provided  it  be  shown  to  the  minister's  satisfaction 
that  the  vein  being  worked  will  probably  extend  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  the  original  location. 

Forfeiture — In  event  of  the  breach  of  the  regulations,  a  right 
or  grant  shall  be  absolutely  forfeited,  and  the  offending  party 
shall  be  incapable  of  subsequently  acquiring  similar  rights  except 
by  special  permission  of  the  minister  of  the  interior. 

Trouble  Over  Mining  Laws. 

It  was  natural  to  expect  that  in  a  mining  region  so  remote 
from  districts  in  which  there  was  an  established  order  of  affairs, 
in  two  countries  between  which  there  was  a  boundary  line  dis- 
pute of  long  standing — and  in  governments,  or  nominal  govern- 
ments, laws  in  unsettled  regions  are  bound  to  be  more  or  less 
dead  letters — where  mining  was  done  under  different  systems  of 
regulations  and  requirements,  there  should  be  more  or  less 
jealousy,  friction  and  trouble. 

Those  who  predicted  a  clash — and  there  were  many  such  on 
the  first  news  of  the  discovery  of  gold  in  the  Klondike  wilds 
reaching  southern  cities — were  not  disappointed. 

Differences  did  arise  almost  immediately.  These  were  due 
partly  to  a  misunderstanding  or  an  ignoring  of  the  existing 
mining  laws  and  partly  to  the  greed  of  Great  Britain  in  seeking 
to  make  a  rich  thing  of  the  find  by  imposing  exactions  on  the 
miners  who  crossed  the  real  or  alleged  boundary  line  and  staked 
off  claims  on  the  territory  claimed  by  Canada, 

The  Canadian  government  lost  no  time  in  taking  official  action 
and  there  was  a  prospect  of  international  hostilities. 

On  July  30,  1 897,  the  Dominion  Cabinet  reached  an  important 
decision  as  to  the  imposition  of  a  tax  in  the  Yukon  district  on  all 


RESUME    OF    MINING    LAWS.  413 

American  miners.  This  perhaps  is  best  told  in  a  telegraphic 
report  from  Ottawa,  which  was  sent  out  at  the  time.  Says  this 
report : 

"  Under  the  regulations  recently  issued  the  fee  for  registering 
a  claim  was  fixed  at  ;^I5,  while  an  annual  assessment  of  $ioo 
was  to  be  paid  by  the  holder.  Now,  in  addition  to  this,  a 
royalty  of  lo  per  cent,  will  be  levied  upon  the  output  of  all 
claims  yielding  ;$500  and  under  to  each  claim,  and  20  per  cent, 
upon  each  claim  yielding  over  that  amount. 

"Among  those  posted  the  opinion  is  freely  expressed  that  it 
will  be  impossible  to  so  supervise  the  output  of  these  thousands 
of  individual  claims  as  to  collect  royalty  upon  the  exact  yield. 
Another  obstacle  is  the  fact  that  the  mines  all  lie  within  a  com- 
paratively short  distance  of  the  boundaries.  There  is  nothing  to 
prevent  the  miner  from  carrying  the  bulk  of  his  gold  dust,  on 
the  quiet,  down  the  river  to  the  boundary  line,  and  once  in 
American  territory  he  is  out  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Canadian 
tax  collector. 

Reservation  of  Grounds. 

"  In  addition  to  the  royalty  every  alternate  claim  in  all  placer 
grounds  is  to  be  reserved  as  the  property  of  the  government. 
These  government  reserves  are  to  be  sold  or  worked  by  the 
government  for  the  benefit  of  the  revenue  of  the  Dominion. 
This  is  considered  a  startling  departure  from  all  the  traditions  of 
placer  mining  the  world  over. 

"Two  customs  officers  will  be  dispatched  to  a  point  near 
Lcke  Tagish,  where  all  goods  sent  in  by  the  Taiya  route  (Chil- 
koot  Pass)  can  be  intercepted.  At  this  point  also  a  strong 
mounted  police  post  will  be  erected,  and  the  strength  of  the 
Yukon  police  will  be  augumented  by  an  additional  detachment 
of  eighty  men.  Small  police  posts  will  be  established  about 
fifty  miles  apart  up  to  Fort  Selkirk.     These  will  serve  as  stations 


414  RESUME    OF    MINING    LAWS. 

for  the  dog  trains  carrying  mails,  and  also  for  the  relief  of  such 
travelers  as  may  make  the  journey  overland  during  the  winter. 

"  There  will  be  established  a  regular  monthly  mail  service 
between  Taiya  and  Fort  Selkirk.  The  government  has  also 
determined  to  test  the  feasibility  of  connecting  Dawson  City 
with  Taiya  by  means  of  a  telegraph  line.  Should  it  be  found 
impracticable  to  consL /uct  an  ordinary  overhead  s)'stem  a  species 
of  land  cable  mav  be  employed  to  convey  the  wire  laid  on  the 
surface. 

"  In  the  meantime  the  surv'ey  for  a  route  overland  from  Taiya 
will  be  pushed,  and  upon  the  surveyors'  report  will  depend  the 
carrying  out  of  the  proposal  of  constructing  a  wagon  road 
through  the  country  at  least  to  the  head  of  uninterrupted  navi- 
gation on  the  Yukon  River.  Diplomatic  communication  will  be 
entered  into  with  the  United  States  authorities  for  the  purpose  of 
establishing  a  modus  vivendi  so  as  to  give  the  Canadian  Govern- 
ment the  right  of  way  through  the  country." 

The  miners  summarily  condemned  the  action  of  the  Dominion 
Cabinet  and  rose  up  almost  to  a  man  against  the  payment  of  the 
tax.  They  denounced  the  step  as  rank  robbery  and  declared 
that  the  Dominion  officers  would  have  a  high  time  in  collecting 
the  monies  levied. 

Much  indignation  was  aroused  not  less  in  the  press  than 
a.mong  the  public,  as  the  following  newspaper  comments  show  : 

Press  Is  Indignant. 

Bidletin :  Canada  cannot  very  well  hold  on  to  all  the  gold  in 
the  Klondike,  but  the  Dominion  Government  will  put  a  royalty 
on  claims  and  gather  in  as  large  a  share  as  possible.  Let  the 
Dominion  statesmen  go  on  if  they  think  there  is  no  such  thing 
as  manifest  destiny. 

Evening  Report :  The  news  about  the  imposition  of  a  mining 


RESUME    OF    Ivn?frNG    LAWS.  415 

tax  by  the  Canadian  Government  suggests  that  a  war  vessel  be 
sent  to  Dawson  City  without  loss  of  time. 

Chrcnicle :  The  Dominion  Government  has  thrown  fairness 
and  caution  to  the  winds  and  gone  to  the  unexpected  length  of 
imposing  a  royalty  on  all  placer  diggings  on  the  Yukon,  besides 
a  $1  5  registration  fee  and  $ioo  annual  assessment.  The  royalty 
named  is  lo  per  cent,  on  claims  with  an  output  of  ^500  or  less 
monthly,  and  20  per  cent,  on  every  claim  yielding  above  that 
amount.  Additionally,  the  government  will  reserve  every  alter- 
nate claim  in  any  new  gold  district  that  may  be  found,  and  will 
impose  a  heavy  tariff  upon  all  goods  coming  in  from  the  Ameri- 
can side. 

With  the  latter  proviso  we  do  not,  of  course,  find  fault,  but 
the  proceeding  as  a  whole  shows  an  intent  to  keep  American 
miners  out  of  the  field  in  which  they  were  pioneers  and  where 
they  have  uncovered  the  richest  finds. 

The  Canadian  government,  however,  apparently  meant  busi- 
ness, and  it  proceeded  to  cloister  the  tax  it  had  imposed  with  a 
certain  amount  of  terror  in  the  way  of  penalties.  According  to 
the  amended  regulations  issued,  any  miner  who  defrauds  the 
government  will  be  made  liable  to  the  confiscation  of  his  claim 
and  the  withdrawal  of  his  right  to  have  any  holding  in  the 
future.     The  penalty  for  the  trespassing  clause  reads  as  follows  : 

Penalties  are  Imposed. 

"  Entry  shall  only  be  granted  for  alternate  claims,  the  other 
alternate  claims  being  reserved  for  the  crown,  to  be  disposed  of 
at  public  auction  or  in  such  manner  as  may  be  decided  by  the 
Minister  of  the  Interior.  The  penalty  for  trespassing  upon  a 
claim  reserved  for  the  crown  shall  be  the  immediate  cancellation 
by  the  gold  commissioner  of  any  entry  the  trespasser  may  have 
obtained  for  a  mining  claim,  and  the  refusal  of  the  acceptance  of 


416 


RESUME    OF    MINING    LAWS. 


any  applic;ition  which  the  trespasser  may  at  any  time  make  for  a 
claim.     In  addition  to   such  penalty  the  mounted  police,  upon 


LYNCH    LAW    L\    KLONDIKE. 

requisition  from  the  gold  commissioner,  shall  take  necessary  steps 
to  eject  the  trespasser." 

A  scheme  wis  likewise  devised  by  the  Canadians  to  prevent  or 
limit  the  flow  of  gold  to  this  country.  This  move  also  met  the 
bitterest  opposition,  from  the  fact  that  a  large  percentage  of  the 
miners  in  the  Klondike  district  were  Americans  who  went  there, 


RESUME   OF   MINING   LAWS.  417 

braving  perils  and  hardships,  on  a  mere  chance  of  making  for- 
tunes, and  who  resented  being  taxed  for  the  privilege  in  the  first 
place,  and,  in  the  second  place,  having  restrictions  placed  upon 
them  as  to  the  disposition  of  their  finds. 

The  scheme  was  devised  by  Captain  Strickland.  Following 
is  a  report  of  his  plan  : 

"  Captain  Strickland  said  the  plan  which  he  has  already  sug- 
gested, and  which  the  Dominion  government  was  inclined  to  favor, 
provided  they  had  a  large  enough  police  force  to  be  assured  of  carry- 
ing it  out,  was  to  pass  a  law  prohibiting  the  export  of  gold  except 
by  Dominion  officials.  The  gold  dust  brought  in  by  the  miners 
of  all  nationalities  would  be  carefully  weighed  by  officials  of  the 
Canadian  government.  A  fixed  value  would  be  placed  on  the 
metal,  according  to  assayers'  estimates,  and  this  value  would  be 
paid  in  money  of  only  local  value." 

Klondike    a    Free   Country. 

In  official  circles  in  the  United  States  the  manifestos  of  Canada 
were  deemed  "  amusing  literature."  Said  one  of  the  leading 
officials  of  the  State  Department  at  the  time : 

"  The  gold  fields  are  free  to  all.  Of  course  it  is  possible  for 
Great  Britain  to  pass  an  alien  law  which  would  keep  citizens  of 
the  United  States  out  of  the  new  gold  fields,  but  the  result  would 
be  that  it  would  keep  their  own  people  out  as  well,  for,  while  it 
is  true  that  the  fields  already  explored  seem  to  be  on  Canadian 
territory,  they  cannot  be  reached  at  all  except  by  passing  through 
the  American  territory  of  Alaska.  It  is  well  nigh  impossible  to 
make  the  journey  overland  from  British  Columbia  to  Forty-Mile 
Creek  or  any  of  the  headwaters  of  the  Yukon.  It  is  necessary 
to  go  through  Alaska  to  get  to  the  gold  fields,  and  the  gold 
which  is  taken  from  there  must  go  through  Alaska  to  get  to 
civilization. 
27 


418  RESUME   OF   MINING   LAWS. 

"  The  Canadians  have  been  talking  of  establishing  custom 
houses  to  levy  some  kind  of  a  toll  on  the  importation  of  supplies. 
There  has  been  no  talk  of  any  prohibition  of  mining  by  Ameri- 
can citizens,  for  if  that  were  done  all  we  would  have  to  do  would 
be  to  prevent  the  transit  of  Canadian  miners  across  our  territory, 
and  thereupon  the  gold  fields  would  have  to  be  abandoned. 

"  Up  to  the  present  time  no  mortal  man  can  say  exactly  where 
the  boundary  line  between  the  American  and  the  British  posess- 
ions  runs.  The  meridian  fixed  by  the  treaty  has  not  been  deter- 
mined astronomically.  -  The  preHminary  surveys  show  that  the 
new  gold  fields  are  on  Canadian  soil,  but  the  margin  is  so  slight 
that  neither  government  would  care  to  assert  authority  where 
there  is  nothing  to  be  gained  by  it.  The  miners  themselves  have 
established  a  local  government,  as  is  the  case  in  all  mining  fields, 
but  when  the  proper  time  comes  the  British  Government,  which 
is  the  best  equipped  in  the  world  for  looking  after  far-away  de- 
pendencies, will  take  care  of  its  own.  American  miners  can  go 
there  without  fear  of  interference  on  the  part  of  Canada,  but  the 
information  in  our  possession  goes  to  show  that  many  of  those 
who  do  go  will  never  return,  for  a  famine  in  the  Yukon  country 
during  the  long  winter  season   seems  to  be  almost  inevitable." 

John    Sherman  Talks. 

In  the  matter  of  an  alien  law,  Secretary  of  State,  John  Sher- 
man made  the  following  statement : 

"  We  have  an  alien  law  of  our  own.  We  have  never  enforced 
it  against  gold  miners.  Canadian  citizens  have  been  free  to 
come  into  the  United  States  and  mine  for  gold  under  the  same 
terms  that  our  own  citizens  did.  There  has  never  been  any 
friction  over  the  matter. 

"  Where  a  man  has  taken  up  a  land  claim  for  the  purpose  of 
residence  and  cultivation  we  have  always  insisted  that  he  be  a 


RESUME   OF   MINING   LAWS,  41» 

citizen.     The  same  has  been  done   under  the  Canadian  Govern- 
ment. 

"  Where  a  man  has  simply  prospected  for  gold  with  the 
intention  of  digging  into  the  ground  a  little  ways  and  taking 
what  he  could  find  from  land  against  which  there  was  already 
no  claim,  h--  has  never  been  interferrcd  with  on  our  side  of  the 
boundar}'.  I  do  not  think  that  the  Canadian  Government  will 
change  th;.t  course  of  procedure.  If  they  do  it  may  lead  to 
fully  as  much  embarrassment  to  them  as  to  our  miners. 

Through   Clinched  Teeth. 

Canadians,  however,  continued  to  talk  through  clinched  teeth, 
and,  on  an  intimation  being  made  that  the  United  States  would 
look  out  for  the  interests  of  its  citizens,  spoke  with  satisfaction 
of  the  policy  of  backing  up  the  Dominion's  claims  with  guns. 

"  It  is  hardly  necessary,"  says  the  Toronto  World,  "  to  reply 
to  the  threats  of  Americans  in  the  matter.  The  government  of 
Canada  has  already  made  its  reply,  and  that  reply  is  based  on 
action,  not  on  words.  A  large  force  of  mounted  police  and  two 
Maxim  guns  are  now  on  the  way  to  the  Klondike  countr)-,  and 
if  the  miners  whom  the  United  States  journals  are  inciting  to 
revolt  only  make  the  attempt,  they  will  perhaps  meet  with  a 
reception  warmer  than  they  anticipated. 

"  Surely  it  is  time  that  the  people  of  this  country,  and  espe- 
cially the  party  in  power,  began  to  consider  the  rekitions  of 
Canada  with  the  United  States  from  an  entirely  new  standpoint. 
Hitherto  the  Liberal  party  has  regarded  this  people  as  a  friendly 
neighbor,  from  whom  Canadians  might  expect  fair  treatment,  at 
the  least,  while  our  habit  has  been  to  yield  to  them  over  much, 
and  rather  to  supplicate  such  treatment  from  them  than  demand 
it  as  of  right." 

The  United  States  government  meant  to  stand  by  its  word  and 


420  RESUME   OF   MINING    LAWS. 

protect  its  people,  though.     There  was  a  call  for  troops,  and  on 
July  26,  1897,  the  following  telegram  was  sent: 

"Washington,  D.  C,  July  26,  1897. — Shafter,  Commanding 
Department  of  California  :  Can  you  spare  a  full  company  of  in- 
fontry  for  the  establishment  of  a  post  at  Circle  City  this  season 
for  the  protection  of  American  interests  ?  Men  ma}'  be  selected 
for  duty  from  various  commands.      Answer  immediately. 

"  Alger,  Secretary." 

General  Shafter  answered  in  the  affirmative,  and  as  a  result  of 
orders  Captain  Patrick  Henry  Ray,  Eighth  United  States  Infantry, 
stationed  at  Cheyenne,  Wyo.,  was  instructed  to  take  a  detach- 
ment of  troops  to  the  Yukon  district.  The  troops  sailed  from 
Seattle — six  officers  and  fifty-six  men — on  August  5th,  by  way 
of  St.  MicKael's  for  Circle  City,  and  the  thousands  who  were  on 
their  way  or  who  intended  to  go  to  the  gold  fields  had  the  assur- 
ance that  they  and  their  interests  would  be  protected. 

Limited  Size  of  Claims. 

Early  in  August  of  1 897,  too,  the  Canadian  government  took 
a  new  tack  in  the  matter  of  mining  regulations  by  restricting  the 
size  of  claims  that  would  be  allowed.  Instead  of  allowing  500 
feet,  as  the  regular  law  provided,  the  Dominion  decided  that  it 
would  fix  the  limit  at  100  feet.  This  decision  was  made  on 
August  9th,  to  go  into  effect  immediately.  This  was  designed  to 
revolutionize  the  old  plan  of  operations,  which  is  thus  described 
by  Thomas  Cook,  an  old  miner  who  spent  years  in  the  region  : 

"  In  Canada  the  placer  mines  are,  as  a  matter  of  course,  close 
to  the  water  and  every  man  when  he  makes  his  prospect  is 
allowed  to  stake  off  about  what  he  considers  500  feet  on  each 
side  of  the  place  up  and  down  the  river.  That  gives  him  the 
width  of  his  claim  lOOO  feet,  and  this  width  extends  from  the  river 
back  to  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  whether  it  is  a  canon  or  a  plain. 


RESUME   OF   MINING   LAWS.  421 

"  Then  he  puts  up  his  stake  and  the  government  surveyor 
comes  along  and  sets  off  the  500  Feet  each  way  exactly.  Every 
man  must  pay  a  license  of  ;^I5  a  year  and  he  must  put  in  three 
months'  work  on  the  claim  during  the  year.  If  the  work  is  not 
done,  there  are  plenty  of  men  ready  to  report  him  and  take  the 
claim. 

"Americans  like  the  Canadian  laws  better  than  the  laws  of  the 
United  States,  because  they  know  their  claims  are  better  pro- 
tected, and  there  is  no  claim-jumping  so  long  as  a  man  abides 
by  the  laws.  The  government  follows  up  the  miners  by  build- 
ing roads.  I  don't  want  to  say  anything  against  our  own  laws, 
for  I  am  an  American,  but  it  is  a  fact  that  we  get  better  protec- 
tion and  the  government  takes  more  interest  in  helping  the 
miners  along  in  Canada." 

The  new  mining  enactment  passed  by  the  Dominion  expressly 
forbids  the  "grub-staking"  of  prospectors  or  prospecting  by 
proxy.  In  the  future  if  any  man  wants  a  lawful  share  of  the 
riches  of  the  Klondike  region  he  must  work  with  pick,  shovel 
and  gold  pan. 

Slap  at   the    United    States. 

The  law,  it  was  said,  is  clearly  a  slap  at  the  United  States. 
It  is  intended  to  restrict  the  immigration  of  American  miners. 
By  the  provisions  of  the  act  it  is  unlawful  for  any  person  or  cor- 
poration to  prepay  transportation  "or  in  any  way  assist  or 
encourage  the  importation  or  immigration  of  any  foreigner  or 
alien  into  Canada." 

All  such  contracts  are  declared  void  and  unlawful,  and  the 
penalty  attached  is  ;^iooo  for  each  and  every  offense,  and  all 
parties  to  the  contract  are  individually  liable. 

The  "  exemptions  "  from  the  act  include  nearly  all  classes  of 
labor  except  mining  and  prospecting.  Informers  are  to  receive 
50  per  cent,  of  the  penalties  collected. 


CHAPTER  XV. 
Gold  Crazes  of  Other  Days. 

Mining  Excitements  in  Other  Countries — Australia  and  South  Africa  lay  the 
Old  World  under  Tribute — Outbreaks  of  the  Fever  in  America — Early 
Case  in  North  Carolina — Stampede  of  '49 — "  Pike's  Peak  or  Bust" — 
Recollections  of  the  Argonauts — The  Rocky  Belle  Camp  Craze — Rush 
to  Stevens'  Claim — Excitement  About  Tombstone — Placers  in  Baj a,  Cali- 
fornia— Harqua  Hala  Diggings — Randsburg  and  Its  Boom — Comparisons 
with  Klondike — What  the  Early  Stampedes  Cost  in  Cash  and  Life. 

FROM  the  far-away  days  of  the  Scriptural  land  of  Havilah, 
the  world  has  been  subject  to  going  crazy  over  discoveries 
of  gold.  A  large  part  of  history  is  a  record  of  events  for 
which  gold  has  been  more  or  less  directly  responsible.  Most  of 
the  wars  of  invasion  have  been  waged  to  gain  gold,  or  its  equiv- 
alent in  transmutable  form.  Gold  lured  the  Spaniards  to  the 
Antilles  and  the  Englishman  to  Virginia.  Lust  for  gold  cost  the 
Aztecs  an  empire  and  enslaved  the  Incas.  Gold  hunters  gave 
Australia  and  New  Zealand  and  South  Africa  to  civilization.  Gold 
has  never  had  but  one  rival  as  a  civilizer — religion — and,  to  pro- 
duce a  stampede,  not  even  plague  or  famine  ever  equalled  it. 

Though  Australia  and  South  Africa  had  some  gold  excite- 
ments which  laid  the  Old  World  well  under  tribute  for  the  bravest 
and  sturdiest,  as  well  as  the  greediest  of  its  population,  i\merica, 
and  especially  the  United  States,  has  had  more  gold  fevers  and 
had  them  harder  than  any  other  region  on  the  globe.  There  was 
as  much  of  a  craze  as  the  new  country  could  stand,  probably, 
when  gold  was  discovered  in  the  Carolinas,  when  the  nation  was 
a  youngster,  and  there  were  some  other  relatively  minor  outbreaks 
of  the  auriferous  malady  in  other  sections  early  in  the  century; 
but  it  was  not  until  the  war  with  ?kIexico  had  given  both  the 
opportunity  and  the  hardy  men  to  take  advantage  of  it,  by  stimu 

422 


GOLD    CRAZES    OF   OTHER    DAYS.  423 

lating  the  spirit  of  Western  exploration,  that  America  bej^an  in 
real  earnest  to  show  of  what  it  was  capable  when  the  gold  fever 
"struck  in." 

California,  Pike's  Peak,  Washoe,  Salmon  River,  Frazer  River, 
Montana,  Black  Hills,  Leadville,  Tombstone,  Kootenai,  Cariboo, 
Randsburg,  Alaska — every  one  a  stampede.  Gold  has  made  no 
other  history  like  it.  Monte  Cristo  was  a  poor  fellow  in  com- 
parison with  the  heroes  of  those  stampedes  ;  Ophir  and  Gol- 
conda  were  poor  "  streaks  "  beside  the  treasure  houses  in  the 
mountains  of  those  days  ;  and  Mungo  Park  and  Rider  Haggard 
prosy  tellers  of  true  stories,  beside  the  masters  of  golden  fiction, 
that  America  produced  or  imported  during  the  latter  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 

When  the  gold  fields  of  California  were  discovered  in  the 
"  days  of  '49,"  the  eastern  half  of  the  continent  began  to  depopu- 
late itself  at  a  rate  which  brought  a  new  State  into  the  Union  in 
three  years.  The  news  of  Major  Sutter's  wonderful  strike  in  the 
Sacramento  sands  crossed  the  ocean  and  European  adventurers 
joined  in  the  rush  to  the  Pacific  slope. 

'   Perils    of  '49. 

Yet  it  was  no  child's  pastime,  that  journey  to  the  golden  val- 
leys of  the  Sierras  nearly  fifty  years  ago.  Two  thousand  miles 
of  wilderness,  partly  a  desert  of  perils,  partly  stern  mountain 
chams,  bleak  and  impassable,  had  to  be  traversed  and  almost 
every  foot  of  the  way  was  beset  by  blood-thirsty  Indians  or 
marauding  white  renegades.  Or  else  the  argonaut  risked  the 
hazards  of  the  sea  and  either  crossed  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  and 
dared  its  deadly  fever,  which  too  often  undermined  his  health 
for  all  time,  or  spent  six  months  or  a  year  in  the  monotonous 
voyage  "  around  the  Horn."  Anyway  he  went,  it  cost  time  and 
money  unstinted  to  reach  the  land  of  gold.     And  when  they  got 


424  GOLD    CRAZES    OF   OTHER   DAYS. 

there  they  were  out  of  the  world.  Everybody  else  was  across 
the  mountains  or  the  sea,  mails  were  few,  expensive  and  uncer- 
tain, and  it  sometimes  cost  the  total  proceeds  of  a  day's  hard 
work  in  the  placer  and  took  a  year's  time  to  get  a  letter  to  the 
old  home  "  in  the  States  "  and  an  answer  from  the  dear  ones 
back  again. 

"  This  Alaska  is  a  regular  parlor  game  to  what  we  had  to 
undergo  in  '49  and  the  early  '50's,"  was  how  President  Addison 
Ballard,  of  the  Forty-niners  Association  in  Chicago  put  it. 
"  Cold !  why  we  had  to  cross  mountain  tops  that  were  covered 
with  ice  and  snow  as  cold  as  any  ever  produced  in  Alaska.  We 
had  not  only  that  to  contend  with,  but  also  the  blazing  heat  of 
the  tropics,  the  thousand  and  one  dangers  and  trials  of  the  plains, 
the  sufferings  and  privations  of  the  most  barren  and  sterile 
and  forbidding  deserts  ever  crossed  by  man.  Savage  beasts  and 
still  more  savage  men  besetting  every  mile  of  our  way  and  that 
way  was  a  trail  across  trackless  plains  through  a  country  un- 
developed, unopened  and  unknown. 

Only  Locomotive  a  Mule. 

"All  of  this  had  to  be  contended  against  at  a  time  when  the 
resources  of  civilization  were  comparatively  primitive.  We  had 
no  railroads  then,  our  only  train  was  the  prairie  schooner,  our 
only  locomotive  a  mule  team  or  a  span  of  oxen.  We  had  no 
tinned  meats,  condensed  milks  or  preserved  fruits  in  those  days  ; 
we  had  to  do  with  the  roughest  food,  sometimes  furnished  by 
our  rifles,  and  oftentimes  that  in  scanty  quantities.  Then  there 
was  the  sickening,  saddening  oppressive  sensation  of  being  cut 
off  from  the  rest  of  the  world  and  the  possibility  of  never  being 
again  brought  in  touch  with  home  and  friends  and  civilization." 

George  W.  Custer,  Auditor  of  the  Board  of  Education,  Chi- 
cago, another  '49er,  who   went  overland   in    1850,  remembered 


GOLD    CRAZES   OF   OTHER    DAYS.  425 

the  hardships  well  enough  to  shudder  as  he  talked  of  them.     He 
said  : 

"It  was  the  fourth  day  of  April,  1850,  that  my  father 
made  up  his  mind  to  go  to  the  California  gold  fields,  and 
started  with  his  family  across  the  country  to  where  we  were  told 
men  could  dig  up  nuggets  with  their  heels  right  out  of  the  soft 
surface  mold  all  over  the  peninsula  of  California.  I  shall  never 
forget  our  experiences  on  that  trip.  Hundreds  of  people  started 
out  without  sufficient  money  or  provisions,  and  as  a  result  they 
perished  of  hunger  and  thirst  on  the  great  American  desert  of 
the  Salt  Lake  district,  through  which  their  path  lay. 

Fourth   of  July  in  the  Desert. 

"  Our  family  formed  a  portion  of  the  caravan  known  as  the 
Patterson  Rangers.  It  was  composed  of  twelve  wagons,  forty- 
seven  men  and  a  boy  (myself).  We  ate  dinner  on  the  Fourth 
of  July,  1850,  right  in  the  heart  of  the  desert,  and  on  that 
evening  we  practically  ran  out  of  provisions.  It  was  the  poorest 
Fourth  of  July  dinner  I  ever  remember  to  have  eaten.  I 
remember  it  well.  We  each  had  a  small  piece  of  smoked  meat 
and  a  biscuit.  My  father,  who  had  smuggled  a  small  jar  of 
sweet  jelly  with  him,  smeared  a  little  of  it  over  my  dry  biscuit 
in  honor  of  the  occasion. 

"  Our  trail  was  littered  with  the  remains  of  other  caravans  of 
pioneers  who  had  preceded  us  across  the  deadly  waste.  The 
skeletons  of  men  and  animals  dotted  both  sides  of  the  trail,  and 
wagon  wheels,  old  arms,  rusty  swords,  broken  rifles  and  other 
relics  of  the  victims  of  that  terrible  summer  were  l>'ing  around 
in  profusion.  The  value  of  the  material  that  kiy  there  decaying 
on  the  desert  would,  I  believe,  if  fairly  computed,  run  up  into 
the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars." 

And  these  were  not  even   fair  samples   of  the  experiences  of 


426  GOLD    CRAZES    OF   OTHER    DAYS. 

hardship  and  peril  of  the  California  argonauts.  Yet  the  craze 
lasted  and  men  by  the  thousand  kept  rushing  West  by  land  and 
sea  to  the  placers  of  the  Pacific  slope. 

Then  the  Australian  gold  fever  came  on  in  185 1  and  1852,  and 
right  on  top  of  that  the  Colorado  discoveries — "  Pike's  Peak  or 
Bust" — and  it  seemed  for  a  time  as  if  all  the  civilized  world 
that  was  not  already  at  the  mines  was  pushing  and  crowding  to 
get  there.  Stories  of  disappointments  and  disasters  to  those 
who  had  "gone  in"  did  not  deter  those  who  were  going;  it 
was  according  to  the  ethics  of  gold  hunting  that  bad  luck  was 
individual  and  good  luck  only  was  "  catching."  And  so  they 
rushed  in,  and  where  one  "  struck  it  rich  "  nine  "  went  broke." 
The  world  had  seen  nothing  like  it  since  the  Crusades. 

The  Rocky  Belle  Craze. 

Arizona  supplied  some  good  samples  of  the  gold  fever  in  the 
seventies.  Probably  the  wildest  and  craziest  stampede  ever 
known  in  the  Southwest  was  that  to  the  Rocky  Belle  Camp  in 
Northern  Arizona,  in  the  region  of  the  Moqui  Indian  reservation, 
in  December,  1874.  The  region  is  8000  feet  above  the  sea  level 
and  lies  among  snow-clad  mountains.  It  was  an  unusually  cold 
winter  when  the  news  went  abroad  that  Hank  Binford  and  his 
companion  had  struck  a  whole  mountain  of  gold  rock  that  as- 
sayed over  5900  to  the  ton. 

A  week  more  and  over  2000  miners  from  every  part  of  Arizona 
and  Southern  California  were  moving  day  and  night,  scarcely 
stopping  for  food  and  sleep,  toward  the  Rocky  Belle  Camp. 
Hundreds  of  men  traveled  700  and  800  miles  on  foot  and  with 
mules  and  donkeys  to  the  new  diggings,  and  nearly  all  traveled 
across  desert  and  mountain  for  a  distance  of  250  to  300  miles. 
As  the  multitude  journeyed  on,  the  report  of  the  riches  of  Hank 
Binford's  find  grew  until  it  seemed  as  if  wagon  loads  of  rich  gold 


GOLD    CRAZES    OF   OTHER    DAYS.  427 

ore  awaited  the  travelers.  Merchants  and  professional,  men  in 
Maricopa  and  Tucson,  and  that  part  of  Southern  Arizona  became 
imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the  miners,  and,  turning  their  business 
over  to  others,  joined  in  the  movement  on  Rocky  Belle. 

The  hardships  that  the  fortune  seekers  suffrcd  in  the  moun- 
tains will  never  be  fully  known.  A  large  number  c  f  men  coming 
out  of  the  warm,  balmy  air  of  the  semi-tropic  valkys  lost  their 
lives  among  the  snowbanks  and  ice  in  the  mountains,  and  many 
a  man  was  made  an  invalid  for  life  because  of  exposure  to  the 
biting  cold  during  the  stampede.  A  severe  blizzard  raged  in 
the  mountains  for  several  days  while  the  miners  were  slowly 
trudging  through  them.  In  one  party  of  over  loo  men  from 
New  Mexico,  four  men  were  frozen  to  death  one  morning,  and  it 
is  thought  that  fully  twenty  more  died  in  the  same  way  in  the 
mountains  at  that  time.  To  this  day  there  are  in  California  and 
Arizona  gray-haired  miners  who  lack  a  finger,  a  toe,  or  an  ear, 
lost  in  the  terrible  cold  of  that  stampede. 

When  the  last  of  the  Rocky  Belle  diggings  were  reached  it 
was  soon  seen  that  there  was  no  ore  in  the  district  worth  the 
digging  except  in  the  claims  held  by  Hank  Binford  and  his 
friends,  and  that  the  reports  of  their  find  had  been  exaggerated 
beyond  all  reason.  Binford's  own  mine  petered  out  a  year  or 
two  later,  and  he  got  only  a  few  thousand  dollars  from  it. 

Stevens  Starts  a  Stampede. 

Along  in  the  summer  of  1878  a  miner  named  Stevens  wrote 
to  a  friend  in  Phoenix  that  he  had  found  a  claim  that  beat  any- 
thing in  mining  outside  of  the  Comstock  lode  in  Nevada,  and 
that  with  a  common  iron  mortar  and  pestle  he  had  pounded  out 
from  $70  to  ^100  worth  of  gold  dust  a  day.  The  claim  was 
located  120  miles  northeast  from  Kingman,  near  the  since 
famous  Harqua    Mala   mining   region,  and  there  was   a  chance, 


428  GOLD   CRAZES   OF   OTHER   DAYS. 

so   Stevens   wrote,   for   other  men    to    strike  it  rich   up  there. 

Of  course,  such  news  could  not  be  kept  quiet.  It  traveled 
with  miraculous  speed  through  every  camp  in  the  Salt  River 
valley  and  over  to  Prescott.  In  less  than  two  weeks  all  that 
part  of  Arizona  was  deeply  stirred  by  the  reports,  which  no  one 
seemed  to  have  time  tc  investigate,  of  the  richness  of  the  mines 
that  Stevens  had  found.  A  thousand  or  more  miners  caught  the 
fever  so  badly  that  they  started  on  foot  across  the  country  for 
Stevens',  camp  without  delay.  It  was  a  hot,  dry  summer  and 
the  journey  entailed  several  weeks  of  severe  physical  labor,  tor- 
turing thirsts  and  the  endurance  of  a  temperature  that  usually 
stood  over  no  degrees  in  the  shade.  A  dozen  men  died  from 
fever  and  in  wild  delirium  under  that  awful  sky,  and  as  many 
more  miners  never  recovered  from  disorders  caused  by  the  pri- 
vations of  that  stampede  across  the  desert  of  Arizona. 

Having  arrived  at  the  Stevens'  camp  the  excited  men  realized 
that  there  were  claims  worth  working  by  about  loo  men.  Sev- 
eral hundred  claims  were  staked  out  in  less  than  a  day  after  the 
excited  miners  got  to  the  scene,  but  in  a  fortnight  the  camp 
population  fell  from  1 200  to  less  than  400.  In  a  month  more 
about  100  persons  were  left  to  do  all  the  mining.  The  camp 
was  abandoned  entirely  ten  years  ago. 

Mad  Rush  to  Tombstone. 

With  the  possible  exception  of  the  rush  to  the  Leadville  minmg 
district  in  Colorado,  there  has  been  none  anywhere  in  forty  years 
attended  with  excitement  that  followed  the  news  of  the  finding 
of  great  deposits  of  gold  and  silver  in  Tombstone  in  1879. 
Miners  from  every  part  of  the  Pacific  coast  caught  the  fever  for 
gold,  and  as  week  after  week  samples  of  the  Tombstone  rock 
were  more  widely  circulated,  and  rumors  went  forth  concerning 
the  fortune  this  or  that  man  or  company  was  getting  out  of  the 


GOLD   CRAZES   OF   OTHER   DAYS.  429 

hills  and   mountains  about  the  new  camp,  thousands  started  for 
Tombstone. 

Hundreds  of  young  men  and  youths  in  the  older  States  were 
wild  with  zeal  to  hasten  to  the  new  Eldorado  and  started  across 
the  continent  with  little  or  no  preparation.  In  less  than  four 
months  after  Gird  and  the  Hawkinses  began  getting  several 
thousand  dollars  a  day  from  their  mines,  there  were  over  6000 
persons  in  the  camp,  and  several  months  later  Tombstone  had  a 
population  of  over  10,000  men  and  200  women.  There  never  was 
another  camp  in  the  Southwest  like  that  a'c  Tombstone  in  1879 
and  1880.  Indeed,  there  have  been  very  few  similar  communi- 
ties in  the  world. 

Wealth  and  Death  Indiscriminately. 

For  over  seven  months  the  daily  outpu^:  of  precious  metal 
averaged  about  $50,000.  Over  a  dozen  men  went  there  penni- 
less and  came  away  worth  over  $500,000  in  less  than  a  year, 
and  six  or  seven  men  struck  it  rich  and  sold  out  for  over 
$1,000,000  each.  Fully  half  the  population  walked  hundreds  of 
miles  to  get  there.  No  railroad  ran  through  Southern  Arizona 
in  those  days,  and  the  awful  Colorado  and  Mojave  desserts  had 
to  be  crossed  in  wagons  or  on  foot  by  the  multitudes  of  fortune 
seekers  from  California.  Desert  sandstorms  were  encountered 
and  for  days  travelers  to  Tombstone  endured  a  temperature  of 
over  1 30  degrees  in  the  shade.  Many  a  man  died  on  the  hot, 
sandy  plains.  Miners  on  their  way  to  the  new  camp  from  the 
East  and  South  toiled  across  the  Arizona  alkali  plains  through 
immense  cactus  areas,  and  risked  their  lives  in  the  then  hostile 
land  of  the  Apache  Indians.  But  hardship,  }).iin,  suffering  and 
risk  of  life  were  all  secondary  to  an  early  arrival  in  Tombstone 
and  the  location  of  a  mining  claim. 

^Vhcn  Tombstone  was  reached  there  were  new  privations  and 
more  physical   distress,  for  the   greater   number,  especially  tor 


430  GOLD    CRAZES    OF    OTHER    DAYS. 

those  who  had  hastened  from  offices,  stores,  shops,  clerkships  and 
the  pastor's  study.  Over  one-third  of  the  men  in  camp  had 
very  little  money,  or  none  at  all,  and  knew  no  way  of  earning  it 
except  by  the  hardest  kind  of  manual  labor,  to  which  they  were 
unused.  It  cost  $i  a  night  to  sleep  in  a  dirty,  rough  pine  bunk. 
Water  sold  at  20  cents  a  gallon,  a  small  dish  of  beans  at  50 
cents,  tallow  candles  at  2  bits  (25  cents),  common  overalls  at 
;^5  each,  smoked  hams  at  ^12  each,  and  cowhide  boots  were 
disposed  of  as  fast  as  they  could  be  hauled  to  camp  across  the 
desert  from  Los  Angeles  and  Yuma  for  ^35  a  pair.  It  was  a 
crround-hocr  case  with  these  commodities  for  the  first  ten  months 

o  o 

of  Tombstone — take  them  at  the  price  asked  or  go  without. 

Placer  Mines  in  Lower  California. 

In  the  last  ten  years  there  have  been  four  or  five  stampedes  to 
mining  camps  in  the  Southwest.  In  the  middle  of  the  winter  of 
1890  California,  as  far  north  as  San  Francisco  and  Arizona,  as 
far  east  as  Prescott  and  Phoenix,  were  stirred  up  as  they  had  not 
been  for  several  years  by  the  news  that  rich  placer  mines  had 
been  found  by  Mexicans  in  Lower  California,  seventy  miles  south 
of  San  Diego.  That  was  one  of  the  most  spontaneous  stam- 
pedes known  in  that  region. 

Samples  of  the  pay  dirt  were  sent  to  San  Diego  to  be  analyzed 
one  Sunday  afternoon.  The  assayer  found  it  would  run  over 
;^400  to  the  ton.  Somehow  the  secret  got  out  and  was  tele- 
graphed up  the  Pacific  coast.  The  telegraph  operators  in  San 
Francisco  spent  the  next  two  days  and  nights  in  sending  and 
receiving  messages  about  the  new  diggings.  Before  Thursday 
morning  6000  to  7000  men  and  youths  were  on  their  way  by  cars, 
wagons,  horses,  coasting  vessels  and  foot,  to  San  Diego  and  Lower 
CaUfornia.  The  hardware  stores  in  Los  Angeles  and  San  Diego, 
and  in  every  village  for   100  miles  around,  sold  every  pickax, 


GOLD    CRAZES    OK    OTHER    DAYS.  431 

shovel,  tin  dripping  pan,  wash  dish  and  milk  and  bread  pan  they 
had  on  hand  to  persons  who  equipped  themselves  for  placer 
mining  and  started  in  a  day  for  the  mines. 

The  boom  had  a  short  life  and  almost  died  a-borning.  Fcr  a 
week  little  was  talked  of  in  the  California  cities  but  the  discovery 
of  gold  in  Baja,  California,  and  the  prospect  of  another  edition 
,  of  the  days  of  '49.  Then,  when  the  first  victims  of  the  fever 
who  had  been  down  to  the  mines  returned  to  San  Diego,  declar- 
ing the  stories  of  wealth  there  to  be  lies,  and  the  excitement 
only  a  manufactured  imitation  of  the  genuine  article,  the  old 
miners  who  had  not  time  to  get  out  shook  their  heads  at  the 
other  fellows  and  said,  "  I  told  you  so." 

Harqua  Hala  Diggings. 

Thousands  of  people  will  never  forget  the  rush  for  the  Harqua 
Hala  diggings  in  the  spring  of  1892.  The  mines  were  found 
in  the  Northwestern  part  of  Arizona,  close  to  the  Colorado 
River  and  the  boundary  lines  between  Arizona,  California  and 
Nevada.  For  several  months  in  the  winter  of  1891—92  there 
came  almost  every  week  news  of  the  big  prospects  that  a  half 
dozen  miners,  who  had  been  moving  from  one  camp  to  another 
in  the  territories,  and  in  Mexico,  for  nearly  a  generation,  had  at 
last  come  across  at  Harqua  Hala.  Along  in  March  and  April 
quantities  01"  gold  dust  and  nuggets  from  the  mines  came  into 
the  hands  of  bankers  in  San  Bernardino  and  Los  Angeles. 

Newspapers  published  reports  as  to  the  prospects  at  Harqua 
Hala,  and  in  a  week  or  two  there  was  another  general  rush  for 
the  diggings.  The  railroads  did  a  land  office  business  for  several 
weeks  in  carrying  men  as  far  as  the  Colorado  River,  From  there 
the  travelers  to  Harqua  Hala  packed  themselves  on  little  river 
steamboats  at  exorbitant  rates  of  travel.  Hundreds  of  mmers 
who  had  hardly  a  dollar  tramped  over  the  mountains    1 50  and 


432  GOLD   CRAZES   OF   OTHER   DAYS. 

200  miles  to  the  mines.     And  then  they  all  tramped  back  again, 
wiser  and  poorer. 

And  then  there  was  Randsburg — that  little  cluster  of  claims 
and  grog  shops  that  sprang  into  existence  in  the  heart  of  a  Cali- 
fornia desert  on  the  strength  of  bags  of  specimens  flashed  by  a 
few  highly-imaginative  prospectors.  There  is  no  denying  there 
is  gold  and  a  good  deal  of  it  in  the  vicinity  of  Randsburg — but., 
it  is  a  good  plan  to  stop  the  denying  right  there. 

In  a  general  way  Randsburg  was  a  forerunner  of  the  Klondike 
affair.  As  soon  as  the  newspapers  gave  up  their  columns  and 
pages  to  stories  and  illustrations,  everyone  who  could  make  or 
scrape  together  the  necessary  sum  to  reach  the  mines  got  a 
prospector's  outfit  and  marched  for  Randsburg.  Some  stayed 
there  and  some  came  back  to  civilization  to  tell  of  what  they 
didn't  earn.  Those  who  stayed,  as  a  rule,  went  to  work  for  the 
syndicates  that  practically  control  the  claims.  If  anyone  is 
making  money  out  of  these  diggings,  it  is  the  syndicate  in 
charge.  So  far  as  the  lone  prospector  is  concerned,  he  is  a  dead 
one.  He  may  pan  out  enough  to  keep  body  and  soul  together 
and  lend  strength  to  his  thirst  for  conquest,  but  there  he  stops. 

Randsburg  and  Klondike  Contrasted. 

Something  else  there  is  about  Randsburg  that  may  have  a 
bearing  on  the  Alaskan  fever.  It  is  regarding  the  personality  of 
the  army  of  prospectors.  Frequently  the  characteristics  of  a  few 
daring  individual  spirits  lend  a  color  to  an  entire  community. 
The  news  of  the  Randsburg  Eldorado  had  hardly  been  taken 
from  the  ticker  when  the  gambling  element,  which  had  been 
browsing  about  the  State  in  an  aimless  sort  of  fashion,  determined 
to  introduce  the  illusive,  yet  seductive,  pea,  monte,  the  wheel  and 
any  number  of  other  devices  for  the  purpose  of  separating  the 
curious   from   their   good  money.      In  addition   to  all  this,  there 


GOLD   CRAZES   OF   OTHER   DAYS.  433 

was  a  flourishing  dance  hall,  roof  garden,  and  all-around  vaude- 
ville show,  so  dear  to  the  early  novels  of  Bret  Harte.  The  few 
cents  the  sydicate  didn't  get  away  from  the  pick-and-shovel  brig- 
ade floated  into  the  pockets  of  the  "  sure-thing  "  men  before  pay 
day  entered  on  its  second  childhood. 

Randsburg  and  Klondike  tales  and  events  have  much  in  com- 
mon. The  stories  of  the  rivers,  hills  and  valleys  of  gold  have 
already  been  told  and  set  the  blood  of  the  imaginative  tenderfoot 
boiling.  Horses,  lots  and  even  personal  effects  have  been  dis- 
posed of  on  all  sides  at  a  great  sacrifice  for  the  purpose  of  ob- 
taining the  wherewithal  to  reach  the  Eldorado  of  the  pole.  Some 
have  already  started  on  their  perilous  journey  ;  others  are  about 
to  hurl  themselves  into  the  Klondike  maelstrom,  and  yet  a  third 
class  are  still  looking  about  them  in  search  of  an  opportunity  to 
join  hands  with  their  brethren  and  one  or  two  of  the  sisters  who 
are  braving  the  tortures  of  a   polar  winter  in  the  mad  hunt  for 

fortune. 

Some    Tough    Characters. 

A  number  of  the  dispatches  and  all  the  statements  issued  by 
the  Alaska  Commercial  Company  and  other  transportation  con- 
cerns have  been  to  the  effect  that  the  people  going  north  are  all 
good,  square,  honest  and  upright  miners.  They  have  said  noth- 
ing about  the  sure-thing  men,  the  army  of  thugs,  ex-prize 
fighters  and  general  disturbers  who  are  turning  heaven  and  earth 
to  reach,  the  Klondike.  Yet  such  is  the  actual  state  of  affairs. 
There  is  a  brigade  of  muscular  young  men  who  have  drifted  to 
the  coast  since  the  revival  of  pugilism.  These  fellows  would 
sooner  go  to  jail  than  work  at  any  honest  trade  or  occupation. 
It  is  almost  an  impossibility  to  get  them  to  train  for  a  go  in  their 
dearly  beloved  prize  ring.  Yet  there  is  nothing  they  won't  do, 
outside  of  work,  to  get  hold  of  a  piece  of  money.  The  sandbag 
is  their  favorite  method. 
28 


434  (;()LD    CRAZES    OF    OTHER    DAYS. 

These  gentlemen  are  all  going  to  Alaska.  On  the  surface 
they  are  sincere  in  their  claims  that  they  are  going  to  work. 
And  they  will  work  if  they  can  find  the  gold  lying  on  the  bank 
of  a  babbling  brook.  The  actual  state  of  affairs  in  a  nutshell  is 
this  :  These  fellows  will  take  any  chance  under  the  sun  to  get 
money.  They  will  stop  at  nothing.  A  man's  Hfe  is  no  more  to 
them  than  a  snowflake  to  a  storm.  If  things  come  their  way 
they  will,  within  certain  limits,  conduct  themselves  in  accordance 
with  the  law,  but  as  soon  as  they  see  they  are  "  up  against  it  " 
they  will  cast  reserve  and  all  scruples  to  the  winds  and  begin 
tearing  things  wide  open. 

Honesty  Versus    Starving  Idleness. 

Just  think  of  the  number  of  people  who  have  already  gone 
and  those  who  are  determined  to  go  to  the  Klondike  who  have 
nothing  more  than  the  mere  price  of  getting  there  !  Now  you 
can  take  it  for  granted  that  these  men  are,  as  a  rule,  good, 
honest  fellows,  willing  to  do  a  fair  day's  work  for  a  fair  day's  pay 
and  take  a  chance  of  striking  it  rich  on  the  side.  But  it  is  not 
every  man  who  can  remain  good,  honest  and  square  under  cer- 
tain conditions.  These  men  have  gone  and  are  going  to  Alaska 
under  a  delusion.  They  imagine  they  are  going  to  get  ^15  a 
day  whether  school  keeps  or  not.  Naturally  ^15  a  day  looks 
like  a  great  deal  of  money  to  men  who  have  been  making  $2 
and  ;^3  a  day.  And  so  it  is.  But  you  do  not  actually  get  the 
$1^,  or  anything  like  a  tenth  part  of  it,  for  an  average  day's 
work  under  the  most  favorable  conditions  in  the  Klondike.  Of 
course  you  may  be  handed  the  ^15,  or  its  equivalent,  on  the 
completion  of  a  day's  labor,  but  how  about  the  expense  of  living  ? 
If  you  get  515  a  day  for  your  work  you  may  rest  assured  that 
$14  of  it  will  go  for  board  and  lodging,  and  as  a  rule  you  board 
and  lodge  with  the  man  or  syndicate  for  whom  you  work. 


GOLD    CRAZF:S   of   other    days.  435 

Then  there  is  another  important  factor  to  be  t.iken  into  con- 
sideration which  has  been  j^i\en  the  general  overlook  in  the 
newspapers.  A  man  does  not  and,  in  fact,  cannot,  even  under 
the  most  favorable  conditions,  work  the  entire  year  round.  There 
are  months  when  you  are  compelled  *o  remain  indoors,  rolled  in 
skin.<=-  if  you  are  fortunate  enough  to  have  them,  with  nothing  to 
eat  but  a  bit  of  dried  bacon,  providing  you  are  sufficiently 
wealthy  to  be  able  to  afford  this  luxury.  So  you  see  a  man  who 
is  not  his  own  boss  runs  an  excellent  chance  of  working  a  season 
and  winding  up  the  year  by  being  over  head  and  heels  in  debt  to 
his  employer. 

The  gold  stories  from  Alaska  are  by  no  means  new.  Some 
years  ago  there  was  a  general  exodus  to  the  Yukon.  The 
small  army  who  went  northward  at  that  time  have  not  yet 
returned  laden  down  with  yellow  metal.  A  few  fortunate  ones 
have  come  back  with  a  fair  return  for  their  labor  and  a  library 
of  romance  that  puts  the  professional  writer  of  fiction  to  the 
blush.  But  what  has  become  of  the  2000  or  3000  who  went  up 
at  the  same  time  and  practically  have  not  been  heard  of  since  ? 
How  about  those  private  graveyards  in  the  ice  fields  and  the 
unfortunates  who  will  never  return  to  tell  the  tale  of  hardship 
and  suffering  that  accompanies  an  Alaskan  winter  ? 

In  a  way,  the  fever  of  '49  has  a  bearing  on  the  fever  of  '97. 
The  pioneer  days  of  California  form  a  basis  of  comparisons  and 
enable  those  who  will  to  draw  conclusions. 

Has  Faith  in    Prospectors. 

Hear  the  Argonaut  Auditor  Custer  again  : 

"  These  Alaska  prospectors  are  doing  better  than  the  '49ers 
did.  I  notice  that  those  who  have  gone  to  the  front  are  telling 
the  truth  and  not  sending  back  exaggerated  reports,  or  painting 
the  roseate  pictures  that  the  first  of  the  California  pioneers  made 


436  GOLD   CRAZES   OP^   OTHER   DAYS. 

in  the  first  flush  of  the  western  gold  find.  It  was  the  false  re- 
ports made  by  some  of  the  early  California  gold  hunters  that  led 
so  many  people  unprepared  into  the  western  wilds,  and  filled  the 
great  plains  with  the  bones  of  unfortunate  immigrants.  The 
people  are  now  being  warned  of  the  hardships  and  privations 
which  await  them  in  their  quest  for  fortune,  and  of  the  means 
with  which  they  must  be  provided  to  overcome  them. 

"  Our  party  made  no  money  in  California,  and  came  back  in  a 
year.  Two  thousand  others  did  the  same.  Of  course,  thousands 
made  their  pile,  though  tens  of  thousands  were  disappointed. 
But  that  came  from  expecting  too  much.  I  don't  think  that  will 
be  the  case  with  the  Alaska  gold  campaign.  The  boys  who 
have  gone  out  first  are  apparently  moderate  in  their  statements, 
and  I  believe  it  will  prove  a  great  place  for  hardy  and  adventur- 
ous men  to  seek  fortune  and  find  it.  The  California  gold  fever 
did  much  to  open  up  and  build  up  this  country-,  and  I  believe  the 
Alaska  gold  fields  will  also  be  a  great  benefit  to  this  country  and 

its  people." 

"  Go    to  Alaska,  Young  Man." 

President  Addison  Ballard  felt  like  Mr.  Custer,  only  more  so. 

"  This  Alaska  gold  discover}'  is  great,"  he  said.  "  I  don't  be- 
lieve there  is  any  great  exaggeration  in  the  stories  told.  I  am 
not  surprised  at  all  at  them,  for  I  have  always  held  that  along 
that  vein  of  territory  clear  to  the  North  Pole  the  earth  is  full  of  the 
precious  yellow  metal,  and  not  only  of  gold,  but  of  silver,  copper 
and  other  metals  of  value.  Why,  if  I  was  a  young  man  to-day, 
I  would  be  off  to  Alaska  just  as  quick  as  I  could  get  my  kit  to- 
gether. I  wouldn't  stay  around  this  town  one  minute  longer 
than  it  would  take  me  to  get  my  tools  and  other  necessaries  in 
shape  for  transportation." 

Mr.  Ballard's  hair  is  white  as  befits  a  man  who  went  "  over- 
land "  forty-eight  years  ago,  but  his  eye  sparkled  with  the  argo- 


GOLD   CRAZES   OF   OTHER   DAYS.  437 

naut  spirit,  and  he  looked  like  a  second  Jason  setting  out  for  the 
fleece  as  he  spoke. 

"  I'll  tell  you  that  the  man  who  loafs  around  here  in  Chicago 
out  of  work,  flat  broke  or  toiling  for  starvation  wages  these 
days  is  a  pesky  fool,"  he  continued.  "  Of  course,  I  would  not 
advise  men  in  very  poor  circumstances  and  with  large  families 
to  take  care  of,  to  rush  off  there  unprovided  and  expect  to  pick 
the  gold  up  in  handfuls  right  off  the  face  of  the  earth.  We 
didn't  pick  it  up  in  nuggets  out  of  the  dust  at  our  feet  in  Cali- 
fornia. You  don't  get  gold  anywhere  without  you  work  for  it, 
and  the  gold  hunters  of  Alaska,  as  well  as  those  of  California, 
will  have  to  dig  for  it  if  they  are  to  get  it.  The  men  who  go  up 
there  in  those  regions  after  wealth  and  fortune  could  not  do 
better  than  to  bear  in  mind  the  little  ditty  so  often  sung  by  the 
California  gold  miner : 

"They  told  us  of  the  heaps  of  dust, 

And  the  lumps  so  mighty  big  ; 
But  they  never  said  a  single  word 

How  hard  it  was  to  dig. 

Easy  to  Get  There. 

"  Now,  what  is  the  case  with  this  Alaska  business  ?  Why, 
they  have  the  railroad  trains  to  carry  them  right  to  the  very 
foot  hills  where  the  precious  metal  lies  concealed.  They  have  a 
country  thoroughly  explored,  the  geography  of  it  thoroughly 
understood  and  comparatively  quick  means  of  communication. 
I  tell  you  the  pioneer  of  Alaska  will  be  a  featherbed  pionec 
compared  to  the  old  forty-niner,  when  the  history  of  both  comes 
to  be  told.  And  yet,  if  it  was  all  to  be  done  over  again,  not  all 
the  dangers  and  discomforts  of  the  '  overland  route,'  the  horrors 
of  the  sea  voyage  and  the  '  weathering  of  the  Horn,'  the  fever 
of  the  Panama,  the  hunger  and  thirst  of  the  desert  would  deter 
me  from  starting  once  again. 


438  GOLD    CRAZES    OF   OTHER    DAYS. 

"  No  ;  I  wouldn't  be  deterred  by  any  little  hardships  such  as 
they  are  talking  about  in  connection  with  this  Alaska  business, 
and  while  it  can  never  confer  the  lasting  benefits  upon  the  coun- 
try that  the  pioneers  of  California  did,  for  it  Avas  the  pioneer  of 
the  diggings  who  opened  up  the  far  West  and  brought  State  after 
State  into  the  Union  till  it  reached  from  ocean  to  ocean,  the 
Alaska  gold  find  will,  in  my  opinion,  be  a  good  thing  for  the 
whole  country  and  enrich  great  numbers  of  our  citizens. 
"  Ho  for  California, 

That's  the  land  for  me  ; 
Away  to  Sacramento, 

With  my  washbowl  on  my  knee." 

Fruit   Belt  Versus  Arctic. 

Yet  it  may  be  well  to  remember  that  in  the  days  of  the  rush 
to  the  gold  fields  of  California,  it  was  almost  impossible  to  get 
the  worst  of  a  venture  to  that  part  of  the  Pacific  coast.  Star- 
vation was  almost  out  of  the  question,  save  in  the  northern  and 
mountainous  districts,  and  a  comfortable  bed  could  always  be 
found  on  the  hillside  of  the  land  of  eternal  summer.  There 
were  no  huge  ice  and  snow  fields  practically  destitute  of  bird 
and  beast.  On  the  contrary,  there  were  streams  full  of  fish, 
anxious  to  be  caught,  and  forests  inhabited  by  flocks  of  birds 
that  have  since  acquired  reputations  for  high  prices  in  city  eating 
houses.  Again,  the  argonauts  of  California  and  Nevada  were 
almost  exclusively  hard  headed,  painstaking  and  sober  minded 
men,  who  were  willing  to  brave  hardships  and  privations  pro- 
viding they  ultimately  obtained  independence  for  their  pains. 

There  are  a  great  many  people  woefully  ignorant  of  the  true 
condition  of  affairs  in  the  Alaskan  country.  Even  among  the 
enthusiasts  will  be  found  few,  if  any,  who  are  conversant  with 
the  subject  in  general,  let  alone  in  detail.  The  greater  number 
of  men  who  have  already  started  for  the  Yukon,  and  the  vast 


GOLD    CRAZES    OF   OTHER    DAYS.  489 

army  who  are  ready  to  march  forward  at  a  moment's  notice, 
know  nothing  about  the  actual  condition  of  affairs.  For  them 
this  book  is  published. 

The   Black  Hills. 

The  rush  to  the  Black  Hills  of  Dakota  differed  from  some 
others  in  that  the  primary  placers  gave  place  quickly  to  lode 
mining,  and  the  perils  from  climate  and  human  enemies  were 
minimized  from  the  start.  Gold  was  discovered  in  1874  and  the 
great  stampede  to  the  diggings  began  to  culminate  in  1875.  The 
auriferous  land  was  on  an  Indian  reservation,  and  United  States 
soldiers  protected  the  white  trespassers  and  throttled  the  remon- 
strant redskins  until  the  United  States  government  made  a  forced 
purchase  of  the  territory,  and  the  miners  thenceforward  had 
things  their  own  way. 

The  ores  of  the  Black  Hills  are  refractory  and  it  required  much 
capital  to  develop  the  mines.  Mills  began  to  spring  up  in  1876, 
and  to-day  the  Homestake  Company  controls  580  stamps  in  this 
rich  district.     The  total  stamps  running   number  685. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
Side=Lights. 

Oddities  and  Freaks  of  the  Klondike  Craze — To  the  Gold  Fields  via  Baloon 
— Bicycles  for  Argonauts — Swiui  or  Slide — Fancy  Stock  in  Dogs — Chop- 
ping Wood  to  Pay  Passage — Grub  stakcrs  and  "Angels" — Schemes  of 
Worn-out  Prospectors — Clairvoyants  as  Gold-finders — Mining  Stocks 
and  Sharpers— Magic  in  the  Name — Barbers  Syndicate — Sleuths  to  the 
Yukon  —  Samples  of  Argonauts  —  Freaks  of  "Tenderfeet" — Bogus 
Bureaus — Hard  Work  to  Keep  Gold — Gamblers  and  Miners — Type  of  a 
Miner's  Paper. 

THOUGH  there  is  a  dark  side  to  the  Klondike  craze,  sil- 
houetted in  blasted  hopes,  physical  misery,  wrecked  for- 
tunes and  even  death,  there  is  a  humorous  side  as  well, 
rather  grim  at  times  and  often  having  the  comedy,  trenching 
perilously  close  on  tragedy,  but  still  pregnant  with  a  realizing 
sense  of  the  grotesque,  and  apt  to  jar  a  smile  out  of  the  most 
disagreeable  situations.  A  siege  of  the  gold  fever  offers  un- 
limited opportunity  for  the  display  of  idiosyncracies,  and  what 
passes  for  humor  in  new  societies  is  most  often  only  the  discov- 
ery of  unexpected  trqits  in  the  hap-hazard  assemblage.  The 
experiences  of  a  mining  craze  are  prolific  of  the  absurd  and  the 
ridiculous, — the  craze  itself  has  a  humorous  phase  in  that  it  is  a 
craze,  and  the  gay  recklessness  with  which  men  chase  golden 
phantoms  is  only  the  absurd  antithesis  to  the  faith  in  human 
gullibility  with  which  schemers  bait  hooks  for  gumptionless 
suckers  and  play  and  land  their  foolish  prey. 

The  Klondike  craze,  both  in  and  out  of  the  diggings,  has  run 
the  gaunt  of  the  jester's  part.  Sometimes  in  its  brief  duration  it 
has  been  a  question  who  were  the  crazier,  those  who  rushed  to 
the  placers  or  those  who  stayed  behind  to  laugh  at  the  reckless 
argonauts.     Some  of  the    queer  features   of  the   '97  fever  are 

440 


SIDE-LI(;HTS.  441 

worth  recording  for  the  digest  of  human  nature  there  is  in  them 
— "  What  fools  these  mortals  be  !  " 

A  Kalamazoo  man  announced  his  intention  of  establishing  a 
balloon  route  to  the  Klondike.  When  the  air  was  full  of  hor- 
rowing  stories  of  the  awful  perils  of  the  passes  and  the  "  sure 
death  "  which  lurked  in  the  maelstrom-like  rapids  and  the  bleak 
and  ice-locked  marches  of  the  river  trail,  he  came  to  the  rescue 
with  a  rose-hued  story  of  and  air-ship  he  was  building,  which 
would  sail  over  anything,  carry  a  ton  of  supplies  and  make  the 
trip  to  the  gold  fields  and  back  in  a  fortnight.  People  wrote  to 
him  from  all  over  the  nation  to  secure  passage,  offering  ridicu- 
lously large  sums  for  even  a  "berth  in  the  steerage."  One 
Illinois  man  (perhaps  forgetting  for  a  moment  he  lived  in  the 
sucker  State),  sent  a  draft  for  ^500  for  a  round  trip  ticket.  To 
the  credit  of  the  air-ship  navigator,  be  it  said,  he  returned  the 
draft  to  the  sender. 

The  balloonist  announced  at  the  outset  that  he  could  take 
only  two  men  besides  himself  and  that  the  party  intended  to  stay 
in  the  Klondike  only  long  enough  to  locate  two  or  three  million- 
dollar  claims  and  then  scud  home  to  the  celery  town  to  spend 
the  winter.  Like  Orpheus  C.  Kerr's  famous  machine-gun  which 
would  have  killed  a  thousand  men  a  minute  if  the  crank  would 
have  turned,  there  was  only  one  defect  in  the  Kalamazoo  air- 
ship— it  would  not  sail,  and  the  great  trans-continental  air-line 

was  never  opened. 

Bicycles  for  Argonauts. 

Some  New  Yorkers  figured  out  a  scheme  for  taking  their 
party  into  the  Klondike  on  bicycles.  Every  detail  of  the 
machines  was  thoughtfully  considered  and  worked  out.  So 
successful  was  it  considered  the  "bike"  route  was  sure  to  be, 
that  a  syndicate  was  formed  to  manufacture  the  special  wheels 
for  the  market,  and  the  promoters  declared  the  day  of  Indian . 


442  SIDE-LIGHTS. 

packers,  burros,  dogs  and  reindeers  was  waned  almost  to  sun- 
set. The  wheel  was  designed  especially  for  use  via  the  Chilkoot 
Pass,  though  it  was  likely  to  prov^e  as  useful  by  any  other  land 
route.     The  prospectus  said  : 

"  Every  miner  who  goes  to  the  gold  fields  must  take  with  him 
about  looo  pounds  of  supplies,  and  the  only  way  to  transport 
them  is  for  him  to  carry  them  on  his  back.  The  most  that  a 
man  can  carry  for  any  distance  is  200  pounds.  The  method 
now  in  vogue  is  to  carr)'  one  load  about  five  miles,  hide  it  so  that 
it  will  not  be  destroyed  by  animals,  and  then  go  back  for  another 
load.      In  this  tedious  way  the  goods  are  finally  transported  to 

their  destination. 

Style  of  the  Wheel. 

"  The  Klondike  bicycle  is  specially  designed  to  carry  freight, 
and  is  in  reality  a  four-wheeled  vehicle  and  a  bicycle  combined. 
It  is  built  very  strongly  and  weighs  about  fifty  pounds.  The 
tires  are  of  solid  rubber  one  and  a  half  inches  in  diameter.  The 
frame  is  the  ordmary  diamond,  of  steel  tubing,  built,  however, 
more  for  strength  than  appearance,  and  wound  with  rawhide, 
shrunk  on,  to  enable  the  miners  to  handle  it  with  comfort  in  low 
temperatures.  From  each  side  of  the  top  bar  two  arms  of  steel 
project,  each  arm  carrying  a  smaller  wheel,  about  fourteen  inches 
in  diameter,  which,  when  not  in  use,  can  be  folded  up  inside  the 
diamond  frame, 

"  Devices  for  packing  large  quantities  of  material  are  attached 
to  the  handle  bars  and  rear  forks,  and  the  machine,  it  is  esti- 
mated, will  carry  500  pounds. 

"  The  plan  is  to  load  it  with  half  the  miner's  equipment,  drag  it 
on  four  wheels  ten  mi^.es  or  so.  Then  the  rider  will  fold  up  the 
side  wheels,  ride  it  back  as  a  bicycle,  and  bring  on  the  rest  of 
the  load." 

At  last  accounts  no  one  had  gone  to  Dawson  City  by  bicycle. 


SIDE-LIGHTS.  44?j 

The  syndicate  had  overlooked  the  one  thing  besides  a  good 
wheel  necessary  to  successful  country  riding — good  roads. 
General  Coxey  had  never  been  to  Alaska. 

A  sledge  and  boat  company  exploited  a  sectional  steel  vessel, 
which  was  to  serve  the  double  purpose  of  water  craft  and  land 
conveyance.  Oars  and  sails  would  propel  it  in  the  water,  while 
on  land  the  argonauts  would  pull  it  along  easily  after  a  couple  of 
plates  at  the  sides  were  let  down  so  as  to  form  a  flat  surface 
under  the  keel.  It  was  to  be  fitted  with  air  chambers  and  burg- 
lar-proof compartments  for  storing  the  precious  gold  dust.  This 
transportation  scheme,  needless  to  say,  fell  flat. 

Stock  in  Dogs. 

Hearing  there  was  a  scarcity  of  dogs  in  Alaska,  a  kennel 
owner  tried  to  organize  a  stock  company  to  furnish  a  supply  of 
canine  draft  animals.  The  fact  that  such  dogs  as  could  be  fur- 
nished from  the  States  would  be  valueless  in  Alaska,  for  sledge 
drawing  did  not  worry  the  brainy  fancier  at  all,  if,  indeed,  he 
ever  thought  of  it.  But  others  thought  of  it,  and  the  company 
was  never  formed. 

The  North  American  Transportation  and  Trading  Company 
offered  miners  a  way  of  getting  into  the  Klondike,  which  beat 
the  balloon  and  "bike"  and  other  easy  modes  of  transportation, 
though  there  was  an  arduous  side  to  it  which  kept  many  from 
taking  advantage.  The  company  needed  wood  in  readiness  for 
its  Yukon  steamers,  as  soon  as  ice  goes  out  in  the  spring  and 
navigation  opens  ;  and  it  proposed  to  pay  each  passenger  whom 
it  transported  as  far  as  Hamilton's  Landing,  four  dollars  a  cord 
for  chopping  wood  during  the  eight  winter  months,  the  scene  of 
activity  to  be  between  the  Landing  and  Fort  Yukon.  It  was 
estimated  a  good  chopper  could  get  up  three  cords  of  spruce  or 
hemlock  a  day  in  the  Alaska  climate,  which  would  enable  the 


444  SIDE-LIGHTS. 

prospector  to  reach  the  Klondike  with  a  comfortable  "  stake  "  in 
his  pocket  and  his  muscles  seasoned  for  the  hard  labor  of  hunting 
for  "  pay  dirt." 

Grub-stakers  proved  one  of  the  most  ample  crops  of  the 
craze.  They  sprung  up  everywhere,  and  all  they  wanted  was 
an  "  angel."  A  grub-staker  is  a  man  who  wants  somebody  to 
stake  him  with  grub,  and  "grub"  is  Klondike  for  beans,  bacon 
and  tea.  An  "angel"  is  one  who  advances,  loans,  or  in  any 
manner  puts  money  in  the  hands  of  the  grub-staker.  The  grub- 
stakers  were  all  willing  to  go  to  the  Klondike  and  endure  hard- 
ships and  face  death  and  locate  a  million-and-a-half  dollar  gold 
mine,  if  somebody  would  advance  the  money  for  the  grub  and 
the  transportation.  Then  the  "angel,"  when  the  mine  was 
located,  would  reap  the  reward  of  his  childlike  trust  and  implicit 
faith,  for,  by  mining  law,  the  "  angel  "  receives  one-half  of  all 
the  grub-staked  one  discovers. 

Grub-stakers  haunted  railroad  and  steamship  offices  in  the 
great  centres  and  in  the  ports  of  the  coast,  and  offered  every 
man  with  money  who  could  not  go  himself,  a  chance  to  go  by 
proxy,  and,  astonishing  as  it  may  seem,  many  an  "angel"  let 
go  of  his  savings  to  send  to  the  diggings  a  man  without  creden- 
tials or  residence,  and  whose  very  name  was  often  suggestive  of 
the  probability  that  neither  man  nor  money  would  ever  be  heard 

of  again. 

Schemes  of   Prospectors. 

An  Eastern  argonaut,  who  was  awaiting  "steamer  day"  in 
Seattle,  wrote  home  of  his  experience  with  grub-stakers  in  these 
words  : 

"  Broken  down  prospectors,  who  have  been  unable  to  make  a 
strike  in  the  West,  offer  their  services  in  trying  to  find  gold  for 
other  people  in  Alaska.  Few  of  them  pretend  to  know  anything 
about  the  Yukon  country,  but  they  are  all  sanguine  of  being  able 


STDE-LiGHTS.  445 

to  go  direct  to  the  right  spot  and  unearth  a  valuable  placer  de- 
posit. The  only  requisite  is  clothes,  food  and  money,  especially 
the  latter.  Thus  equipped  these  prospectors  will  go  to  the  Klon- 
dike and  send  back  at  once  half  the  gold  they  find.  Odd  tales 
are  told  about  some  of  these  fellows.  If  reports  be  true,  some 
of  the  grub-stake  money  finds  its  way  at  once  into  the  till  of 
the  nearest  saloon,  and  the  only  prospecting  done  is  that  entailed 
in  a  hunt  for  new  innocents. 

"  Men  who  have  just  come  back  from  the  gold  fields,  as  they 
assert,  offer  bargains  in  the  way  of  partnerships  in  claims.  They 
proudly  exhibit  bottles  of  gold  dust  in  proof  of  the  rich  strikes 
they  have  made,  and  then  name  prices  which  would  be  ridicu- 
lously cheap  for  bona  fide  properties  of  the  kind  described.  It 
is  pretty  difficult  to  trace  an  Alaska  claim  at  this  distance  from 
its  location,  and  there  is  no  satisfactory  way  of  establishing  its 
existence,  dimensions,  or  worth.  When  the  mining  fev^er  is  on 
a  man,  however,  he  overlooks  such  minor  things  as  these,  and 
jumps  in  haste  to  close  what  he  calls  a  good  bargain.  He 
doesn't  stop  to  consider  the  risk  he  is  running,  and  goes  away 
to  make  room  for  another  customer,  who  will  buy  the  same  claim 
right  over  again.  " 

Clairvoyants    on    Deck. 

Clairvoyants  put  in  their  bid  to  be  recognized  as  factors  in  the 
Klondike  development.  Something  in  the  nature  of  a  grub-stake 
company  was  formed  by  a  number  of  spiritualists  in  Chicago  and 
an  advance  agent  or  prospector  sent  out  to  locate  the  rich  claims 
which  a  well-known  "medium"  professed  to  be  able  to  discern 
clairvoyantly  across  the  vast  intervening  distance.  Some  of 
these  claims  were  said  by  the  "spirit  guides"  to  be  fabulously 
rich  and  all  of  them  well  worth  the  finding.  Maps  were  drawn 
and  explicit  directions  given  and  a  new  field  for  "prospecting" 
duly  opened. 


446  SIDE-LIGHTS. 

Anything  with  the  name  "  Klondike  "  on  it,  especially  if  it  was 
mining  stock,  was  a  pretty  sure  seller  after  August  ist.  All  that 
was  necessary  was  that  the  price  should  be  cheap  and  terms  easy. 
Plenty  of  shrewd  men  took  early  advantage  of  this  and  some 
printing  presses  were  kept  working  overtime  getting  out  the 
prospectuses  and  certificates  for  these  "mining  companies." 
How  many  were  "  bitten  "  by  these  sharpers  and  how  many 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  good  money  they  absorbed  will  never 
be  known,  but  it  is  certain  that  a  very  small  percentage  of  those 
who  invested  in  Alaska  companies  will  ever  see  even  the  "  first 
annual  report"  of  the  concern's  announcing  that  they  must  be 
revivified  by  a  ten  per  cent,  assessment  or  shut  up  shop. 

Magic  in   "  Klondike." 

The  magic  word  "  Klondike  "  seemed  to  be  ample  indorse- 
ment in  the  estimation  .of  the  general  public  for  any  kind  of  an 
Alaskan  proposition,  no  matter  how  wild  or  ridiculous  its  scope. 
Railways  running  for  hundreds  of  miles  ov^er  wastes  of  ice  and 
snow  were  minutely  laid  out  on  paper  and  their  earning  capacity 
soberly  computed  by  men  accredited  with  the  possession  of  busi- 
ness ability.  Electric  light  plants  were  advocated  for  Dawson 
City  and  similar  mining  towns.  Development  of  the  coal  beds 
as  fuel  for  great  central  depots  for  piping  heat  to  the  gulches  to 
thaw  the  frozen  gravel  was  seriously  talked  about.  Had  some 
gold  lunatic  proposed  the  sawing  of  the  Alaskan  ice  into  railroad 
ties  or  telegraph  poles  for  use  where  timber  was  scarce,  it  would 
have  caused  no  more  than  a  ripple  of  surprise,  to  judge  from  the 
bare-brained  schemes  which  really  enlisted  financial  backing. 
Everything  was  possible  in  Alaska,  according  to  the  promoters. 

One  of  the  oddest  things  brought  to  light  was  an  attempt  to 
organize  a  barber's  syndicate  to  invade  the  upper  Yukon  country'. 
One   winter's  experience   in  the   Arctic    region    satisfies   nearly 


SIDE-LIGHTS.  447 

every  man  that  it  is  safer  and  more  comfortable  to  keep  his  face 
free  from  hair.  Moisture  from  the  breath  freezes  mustache  and 
beard  into  cumbersome  and  dangerous  chunks  of  ice  in  that  cold 
climate,  and  in  trying  to  remove  them  pieces  of  frozen  flesh  are 
liable  to  be  torn  off.  Safety  lies  in  clean-shaved  faces.  Many 
men  cannot  shave  themselves  and  many  of  those  who  can,  have 
no  razors  fit  to  use.  The  result  is  a  demand  for  barbers. 
Knowledge  of  this  led  one  sanguine  young  shaver  to  broach  the 
idea  of  taking  a  party  of  brother  workmen  to  the  Klondike  and 
there  was  considerable  enthusiasm  over  the  scheme. 

An  amateur  detective  set  seriously  about  organizing  a  stock 
company  to  send  himself  and  a  corps  of  trained  sleuths  to  the 
Klondike,  where  he  believed  there  is  a  rich  gold  mine  in  arrest- 
ing many  criminals  for  whose  capture  large  rewards  are  offered. 
He  was  morally  certain  Willie  Tascott,  and  a  lot  of  other  badly 
wanted  men  were  there  masquerading  as  miners  under  the  Arctic 
Circle.  He  regarded  the  scooping  in  of  these  men,  and  the 
prize  money  appertaining  to  them,  as  a  vastly  easier  and  more 
lucrative  way  of  making  a  fortune  than  burning  down  to  bed 
rock  through  eighteen  feet  of  frozen  gravel.  But  the  police 
laughed  at  him. 

Samples    of  Argonauts. 

How  little  many  would-be  argonauts  knew  of  the  Klondike, 
or  anything  connected  with  it,  was  illustrated  in  a  New  York 
railroad  ticket  oflfice.  A  well-dressed  man  pushed  his  way 
I  through  the  crowd,  and  throwing  a  big  roll  of  bills  on  the  coun- 
ter, cried  out : 

"Give  me  a  first-class,  and  a  lower  berth." 

"Whereto?" 

"Klondike." 

He  was  indignant  when  the  ticket  seller  tried  to  explain  that 
sleepers  were  not  run  regularly  over  Chilkoot  Pass. 


448  Sit)E-LIGHTS. 

A  man  bought  an  "outfit"  at  a  Seattle  store,  and  found  his 
bill  was  forty  dollars  over  his  funds. 

"  Never  mind  ;  I'll  pay  you  at  Dawson,"  he  said  to  the  cash- 
ier, and  seemed  dumbfounded  when  he  learned  the  clerk  was  not 
going  to  the  Klondike. 

All  sorts  of  men  wanted  to  do  all  sorts  of  things  in  the  dig- 
gings, beside  dig  for  gold. 

One  man  wanted  to  practice  law  at  Dawson,  or  any  other 
place  on  the  Yukon,  and  wanted  the  agent's  advise  as  to  the 
size  of  library  he  had  best  take  along.  His  feelings  were  hurt 
when  he  was  told  a  hot  milk  route  would  probably  pay  better. 

Another  advertised  for  parties  to  form  a  company  to  send  a 
stock  of  "  ladies'  and  gents' "  ready-made  garments  to  the 
Alaskan  gold  fields.  The  venture  may  be  a  success  if  the  sup- 
plies are  limited  to  those  for  men,  as  "  ladies  "  who  are  among 
the  best  people  of  the  Alaskan  wilds,  show  a  preference  for 
white  bearskins  and  walrus  oil  overknit  wear. 

Women  at  the  Camps. 

Another  season  may  change  this,  however,  for  there  is  a  chance 
that  women  with  white  skins  of  their  own  will  be  much  in 
evidence  in  the  camps  in  1898.  Several  promoters  have  already 
arranged  to  establish  matrimonial  agencies  in  the  Klondike. 
One  of  them  says  : 

"  Thousands  of  poor  but  thoroughly  respectable  girls  even  in 
this  State  are  looking  for  honest  employment,  and  would  go  to 
Alaska  to  get  it  if  they  were  assured  they  would  be  properly 
cared  for.  In  the  towns  and  villages  of  New  England  the 
number  of  women  is  so  far  in  excess  of  the  men  and  employ- 
ment so  hard  to  get  that  thousands  would  be  willing  to  go  to 
Alaska  under  proper  conditions.  I  propose  to  secure  places  in 
advance    for    companies    of,    say,    100    girls,    and    have    their 


SIDE-LIGHTS.  449 

employers  advance  money  for  their  transportation  from  the 
States  and  recompense  me  for  my  trouble  besides.  No  girls 
will  be  accepted  except  such  as  can  bring  the  highest  recom- 
mendations as  to  character  and  respectability.  Arriving  at  the 
gold  district  each  one  will  be  assigned  to  her  place,  but  all  will 
be  located  within  a  short  distance  of  each  other,  so  that  they  may 
have  association  and  be  able  to  counsel  each  other..  Under  their 
influence  the  camp  would  take  on  a  homelike  appearance,  and 
the  miners  would  not  feel  that  sense  of  isolation  which  sends  so 
many  to  their  graves.  They  would  be  served  with  well-cooked 
food,  and  the  general  health  of  the  camp  would  be  vastly 
improved." 

Charlotte  Smith,  the  Eastern  sociologist,  wants  to  transplant 
4000  or  more  working  women  from  sweatshops  and  factories  to 
Klondike  camps.  Hers  is  not  a  money-making  scheme — she  is 
laboring  solely  in  what  she  thinks  the  best  interests  of  humanity. 
Transportation  from  a  life  of  drudgery,  with  a  bare  pittance  in 
the  way  of  wages,  to  homes  in  Alaska  would,  in  Miss  Smith's 
opinion,  be  a  blessing  which  thousands  of  women  would  be 
glad  to  embrace. 

Bogus  Employment  Bureaus. 

Employment  bureaus  to  engage  miners  to  work  in  the  Klon- 
dike made  their  appearance  with  the  first  signs  of  the  craze. 
Several  of  them  flourished  in  the  coast  cities  for  some  time,  and 
the  proprietors  accumulated  quite  a  fund  from  gullible  and  impe- 
cunious victims  of  the  fever  before  the  police  swooped  down  and 
arrested  the  sharpers. 

Some  of  the  miners  coming  back  with  a  "  pile  "  had  as  hard 
a  time  to  keep  their  gold  from  the  sharpers  as  the  tenderfeet  had 
to  keep  their  greenbacks. 

Shortly  after  the  arrival  of  the  last  ship  from  Alaska  at  San 
29 


450  SIDE-LIGHTS. 

Francisco  a  number  of  the  Yukoners  had  a  reunion  at  a  private 
hotel  on  California  street  hill.  There  was  everything  on  hand 
to  make  the  function  pleasant,  and  the  evening  passed  rapidly. 
Then  there  was  an  adjournment  to  a  music  hall  on  the  edge  of 
the  "tenderloin,"  and  there  was  more  of  the  wine,  women  and 
song  business.  The  Yukoners  found  that  whisky  at  ten  cents  a 
glass  was  a  more  potent  liquor  than  they  had  met  even  at  Forty- 
Mile. 

There  was  no  limit  to  the  orders,  for  the  men  were  in  for  a 
good  time.  Some  of  them,  with  considerable  foresight,  placed 
their  sacks  in  the  safe  of  the  saloon.  When  they  did  this  they 
had  more  confidence  in  the  integrity  of  the  strong  box  than  in 
their  own  capacity  for  liquids,  but  their  confidence  was  misplaced, 
according  to  reports.  One  of  the  party,  who  was  at  one  time  a 
leader  of  the  Yukon  pioneers,  deposited  a  sack  containing  ;$400  in 
the  safe.  When  he  called  for  it  he  found  that  some  one  else  had 
broken  into  the  safe  and  had  taken  one-half  of  the  stuff  that  was 
in  the  receptacle.  One  man  lost,  according  to  his  statement, 
$2 1 4,  and  his  companion  about  $  i  OO.  The  party  broke  up  about 
the  time  the  cars  began  to  run  in  the  morning,  and  when  the 
sacks  were  demanded  there  was  a  scene. 

Accused  of  Robbery. 

This  was  nothing,  however,  to  what  occurred  the  night  follow- 
ing the  orgie.  Those  who  lost  their  money  met  in  the  refreshment 
room  of  the  hotel  in  which  they  were  staying,  and  each  ac- 
cused the  other  of  being  accessory  to  the  robbery.  Had  it  not 
been  for  the  intervention  of  several  policemen,  called  by  the 
proprietor,  there  might  have  been  several  owners  of  rich  claims 
lying  on  the  slabs  of  the  morgue  the  next  morning. 

Gamblers  reaped  a  harvest  in  the  coast  cities  as  long  as  miners 
were  returning  with  their  dust.     Gaming  was  the  only  pastime 


SIDE-LIGHTS.  451 

at  the  diggings  and  it  was  easy  for  the  card  sharps  to  find  and 
fleece  their  victims  among  the  home-coming  argonauts.  Play 
had  been  relatively  as  high  as  fair  on  the  Yukon  and  before  the 
pioneer  discovered  he  was  made  a  victim,  he  had  generally  been 
well  "plucked."  The  supply  of  these  easily  duped  miners  ran 
out  after  a  time,  however,  and  then  the  professional  gamblers 
started  for  the  fountain  head  at  Dawson  City.  It  .speaks  well 
for  the  caliber  of  the  'gycrs  that  while  many  of  the  blackleg 
fraternity  undoubtedly  got  through  the  outposts,  many  more 
were  turned  back  on  their  journey  to  the  mines  with  some  short, 
stern  advice  not  to  make  another  attempt  to  get  in. 

Type  of  a   Miner's   Paper. 

One  of  the  oddities  of  the  craze  was  a  little  three  column- 
folio  sheet  purporting  to  be  published  at  Dawson  City,  and  which 
gained  much  notoriety  during  its  brief  day  of  novelty.  The 
Klondike  JlToi'ning  Times  may  be  taken  with  as  many  grains  of 
salt  as  the  reader  may  see  fit,  but,  as  an  antitype  of  frontier  min- 
ing journalism,  it  is  worthy  of  the  days  of  Bret  Harte. 

The  editor  seems  to  have  started  the  paper,  because  he 
needed  money.  This  may  be  inferred  from  the  subscription 
price,  which  is  announced  without  any  attempt  at  extenuation  as 
^7.50  a  single  copy  or  ^350,000  a  year,  payment  to  be  made  in 
nickels,  nuggets  or  stamps.  Some  concessions  are  made  for 
club  orders,  the  editor  offering  1,000,000  copies  for  ^30,000. 
The  subscriber  is  advised  to  read  the  paper  quickly,  or  he'll  not 
believe  all  there's  in  it. 

The  sensation  of  the  day  was  a  disturbance  in  the  Dirty  Dog 
saloon  the  night  before.  The  editor  at  once  grasped  the  news 
value  of  the  story,  recognizing  its  "  human  interest  "  at  a  glance. 
He  played  it  under  a  "  scare  "  head  consisting  of  the  expressive 
monosyllable  "  Biff,"  followed  by  three-line  pyramids  and  "cap" 


452  SIDE-LIGHTS. 

lines  in  which  the  various  features  of  the  story  were  striking!}' 
indexed. 

The  story  in  vernacular  is  as  follows  : 

"  There  was  a  hot  time  in  the  old  town  last  night,  as  the  fre- 
quenters of  the  Dirty  Dog  saloon  will  testify. 

"  In  the  course  of  a  quiet  little  poker  game  there  was  a  clash 
between  Bonanza  Bill,  formerly  of  Circle  City,  and  a  half-breed 
Indian  known  in  the  diggings  as  Chilkoot  Charley. 

"  The  stakes  were  large.  Over  $2,000,000  in  nuggets  glit- 
tered on  the  table  when  all  played  dropped  out  excepting  Bill 
and  Charley. 

"  Charley  finally  weakened  and  called  his  antagonist. 

"  Bonanza  Bill  proudly  displayed  a  pair  of  fours. 

"  *  No  good,'  said  Charley,  as  he  began  to  rake  in  the  shining- 
pot,  '  I've  got  sevens.' 

"  '  Stop !  '  roared  Bonanza,  and  with  a  quick  movement  he 
seized  the  cards  from  Chilkoot  Charley's  hand. 

"  Charley  had  a  pair  of  deuces  only. 

"  Piqued  at  the  idea  of  being  played  for  a  good  thing  by  a 
half-breed  Indian,  Bonanza  Bill  lost  his  temper  and,  seizing  a 
cast  iron  cuspidor,  he  brought  it  down  upon  Charley's  head  with 
great  emphasis.  Skull  and  spit-box  were  both  wrecked  by  the 
force  of  the  collision. 

"  The  Indian  was  buried  in  a  snowbank  at  the  foot  of  Easy 
Street  at  2.30  a.  m." 

The  prospects  of  the  Dawson  City  and  Elsewhere  Railroad 
are  flatteringly  exploited,  and  the  enterprise  and  liberality  of  the 
editor  are  revealed  in  a  voting  contest  for  the  most  popular  faro 
dealer,  the  winner  to  get  a  free  trip  to  Juneau. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
Camp  Life  and   Morals. 

Mining  Towns  in  the  Alaskan  Wilderness  Similar  to  Other  Rude  Communi- 
ties, with  such  Peculiarities  as  are  Born  of  Climatic  and  Topographical 
Features — All  Have  Their  Social  Amenities— The  Bible  and  Shakespeare 
Appeal  to  the  Literary  Tastes  of  the  Fortune  Seekers — Watching  of 
Property  Early  a  Necessity — Sharpers  Lose  no  Time  in  Getting  in  Their 
Work — Gamblers  also  Flock  Toward  the  Yukon  to  Intercept  the  Return- 
ing Miners  and  Fleece  Them — Whiskey  Trade  Flourishes  in  the  Wilds. 

THE  mining  camps  of  the  Yukon  Valley  resemble  the  mining 
camps  of  all  other  gold  diggings  the  world  over,  with 
such  minor  differences  as  arc  born  of  the  characteristics 
of  the  country.  Their  life  is  a  rude  life,  a  life  of  hardship,  a  life 
of  temporary  expedients,  and  yet  a  life  that  has  a  bright  side  for 
every  dark  side  it  presents.  The  Yukon  valley  is  well  worthy 
of  a  Bret  Harte  to  recount  its  pretty  romances,  its  heroism,  its 
humble  joys,  its  pathos  and  the  strong  traits  of  character  it 
develops  or  brings  to  notice. 

Situated  as  the  camps  are,  thousands  of  miles  from  civiliza- 
tion, it  would  be  strange  did  their  life  not  present  oddities  and 
striking  features  of  exceptional  interest  to  new  comers.  There 
is  the  absence  of  conveniences  usually  to  be  found  in  such  place  ; 
the  same  tendency  to  recklessness  and  improvidence  ;  the  same 
summary  execution  of  unwritten  law ;  and  in  fact  everything 
that  tends  to  make  a  mining  camp  not  a  town,  but  a  sort  of  a 
halting  place  in  the  wilderness.  There  is  a  rough,  wild,  uneasy 
appearance  to  the  whole  company,  a  something  that  says,  "  We 
are  here  for  a  purpose,  but  we  will  get  out  of  the  diggings  at  no 
distant  date." 

Still  the  life  of  the  mining  camps  on  the  Yukon  is  not  as  rude  or 
as  bad  as  might  be  supposed,  partly  from  the  fact  that  the 
remoteness  of  the  diggings  for  a  long  time  kept  away  dangerous 

453 


454  CAMP   LIFE   AND   MORALS. 

and    undesirable    characters,   and  partly  from    the    presence    of 
mounted  police,  who  did  their  best  to  preserve  law  and  order. 

Dawson  City,  Circle  City,  Forty-Mile,  Sixty-Mile  and  all  the 
older  camps  in  the  region  for  years  after  the  mining  of  gold  was 
begun,  maintained  an  enviable  reputation,  and  after  the  discovery 
of  gold  in  the  Klondike  robbed  the  older  camps  of  interest  and 
brought  about  a  general  exodus  of  the  miners  to  the  new 
diggings  the  same  characteristics  were  preserved.  Hence,  a 
word  descriptive  of  one  of  the  older  camps  may  be  taken  as 
fairly  true  of  all  the  camps  in  the  region.  Says  a  miner  writing 
from  Dawson  City  : 

Is  a  Moral  Town. 

"  It  may  be  said  with  absolute  truth  that  Dawson  City  is  one 
of  the  most  moral  towns  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  There  is 
little  or  no  quarreling,  and  no  brawls  of  any  kind,  though  there 
is  considerable  drinking  and  gambling.  Every  man  carries  a 
pistol  if  he  wishes  to,  yet  few  do,  and  it  is  a  rare  occurrence 
when  one  is  displayed. 

"  The  principal  sport  with  the  mining  men  is  found  around  the 
gambling  table.  There  they  gather  after  nightfall  and  play  until 
late  hours  in  the  morning.  They  have  some  big  games,  too,  it 
sometimes  costing  as  much  as  $^o  to  draw  a  card.  A  game  of 
;$2000  as  the  stakes  is  an  ordinary  event.  But  with  all  that  there 
has  not  been  any  decided  trouble.  If  a  man  is  fussy  and  quar- 
relsome he  is  quietly  told  to  get  out  of  the  game,  and  that  is  the 
end  of  it. 

"  Many  people  have  an  idea  that  Dawson  City  is  completely 
isolated,  and  can  communicate  with  the  outside  world  only  once 
every  twelve  months.  That  is  a  mistake.  Circle  City,  only  a 
few  miles  away,  has  a  mail  once  each  month,  and  there  we  have 
our  mail  addressed.  It  is  true  the  cost  is  pretty  high — a  dollar 
a  letter  and  two  dollars   for  paper — yet  by  that  expenditure  of 


CAMP   LIFE   AND    MORALS.  455 

money  we  are   able   to  keep  in  direct  communication  with  our 
friends  on  the  outside. 

"  In  the  way  of  public  institutions  our  camp  is  at  present  with- 
out any,  but  by  the  next  season  we  will  have  a  church,  a  music 
hall,  schoolhouse  and  hospital.  The  last  institution  will  be  under 
the  direct  control  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy,  who  have  already  been 
stationed  for  a  long  time  at  Circle  City  and   Forty-Mile  Camp." 

Have  Their  Social  Amenities. 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  description  that,  remote  from  civiliza- 
tion and  virtually  under  the  Arctic  Circle  as  they  are,  the  camps 
are  not  without  their  social  ameneties.  Many  an  interesting 
romance  might  be  written  from  the  experiences  of  those  who 
went  to  the  Territory  to  seek  their  fortunes. 

Amusing  details  are  given  of  the  way  in  which  the  men  spend 
the  long  nights  of  the  Arctic  winter.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  this  means  the  greatest  part  of  the  year.  Each  claim  ex- 
tends only  500  feet  up  and  down  the  streams — the  500  feet  was 
limited  by  the  Dominion  government  early  in  August,  1897,  to 
100  feet — and  the  tents  or  cabins  of  the  miners  are  thus  huddled 
closely  together. 

The  miners  are  thus  neighbors  in  propinquity,  and  the  good 
fellowship  which  usually  obtains  in  such  communities  make  them 
neighbors  in  every  sense  of  the  term.  Along  the  Klondike  and 
in  all  the  older  camps  the  men  resort  to  all  sorts  of  games  to 
kill  time,  as  they  express  it,  and  checkers  and  cards  thus  be- 
come favorite  pastime  with  the  masses. 

Then,  too,  remote  as  they  are  from  current  news  and  recent 
publications,  the  men,  in  a  sense,  keep  up  their  interest  in  the 
world  from  which  they  are  severed,  and  every  odd  book  or  old 
newspaper  about  the  diggings  goes  the  rounds  and  is  eagerly 
perused  by  everybod}'.      It  is  rather  interesting  to  note  that  in 


456  CAMP   LIFE   AND    MORALS. 

the  mining  circles  the  Bible  and  Shakespeare  are  the  two  books 
most  frequently  to  be  seen. 

Nearly  every  Klondiker  on  leaving  Tacoma  or  Seattle  is  said 
to  provide  himself  with  a  copy  of  the  Bible  or  a  single-volume 
copy  of  Shakespeare.  About  the  middle  of  August  it  was 
reported  by  the  booksellers  of  Tacoma  that  there  had  been  such 
a  demand  for  these  two  books  that  their  supply  had  been  entirely 
exhausted  and  that  they  had  been  obliged  to  send  east  by  wire 
for  a  fresh  supply  to  meet  the  wants  of  those  who  started  late  in 
the  season  for  the  diggings. 

A  single  instance  will  serve  to  show  the  trend  of  taste  in  liter- 
ary matters.  One  party  of  twelve  prospectors  and  m^iners  from 
Missouri  left  Tacoma  on  August  14th  and  took  as  part  of  their 
baggage  eight  copies  of  the  Bible  andtweK'e  copies  of  Shakespeare. 

Newspapers  in  Camp. 

Robert  Krook,  an  old  miner  in  the  Yukon  valley,  gives  some 
interesting  information  relative  to  the  popularity  of  newspapers 
and  the  general  run  of  the  camp  life.     Said  he  : 

"  No  paper  is  too  old  to  read.  We  read  all  the  advertisements 
and  all  the  can  labels.  There  was  a  supply  of  canned  lobsters 
at  the  camp  and  some  man  used  to  put  up  with  the  cans  wrap- 
pings of  sheets  from  the  Bible.  We  used  to  commit  the  chapters 
to  memory  and  see  who  could  repeat  them  first  without  a  mistake. 

"  The  food  is  neither  extra  choice  nor  plentiful.  But  it  is  ex- 
pensive. Bacon,  ham  and  beans  are  the  general  rule — no 
French  wines  or  champagnes.  The  supplies  are  short  at  best 
and  a  man  must  often  take  bacon  that  he  would  not  throw  to  a 
dog  or  go  without.  There  is  usually  more  whiskey  and  hard- 
ware on  hand  than  anything  else.  A  man  only  needs  a  certain 
amount  of  hardware,  and  the  less  whiskey  he  can  get  on  with 
the  better  he  is  off. 


CAMP    LIFE   AND    MORALS.  457 

"  Sometimes  a  man  has  to  watch  his  supplies  pretty  close, 
and  they  usually  build  a  *  cache ' — that  is,  a  little  platform  set 
high  up  on  light  poles.  He  can  then  haul  up  his  bacon  and 
'  grub  '  and  cover  it  with  a  tarpaulin.  The  risk  of  leaving  the 
'  grub  '  in  the  cabin  is  that  the  bears  get  at  it.  They  will  even 
tear  the  roof  off  to  get  in,  and  there  are  plenty  of  the  animals. 
They  won't  climb  the  thin  posts,  particularly  when  the  bark  has 
been  peeled  off 

"  In  regard  to  clothing,  a  man  does  not  need  much  in  summer, 
and  in  winter  he  studies  comfort,  not  looks.  In  winter  we  wear 
moccasins,  and  in  summer,  while  sluicing,  gum  boots.  I  have 
not  had  leather  on  my  feet  since  I  left.  Overalls  cost  $2.50  in 
Klondike,  and  everything  else  in  proportion,  but  it  is  a  great 
country  to  make  money  in." 

Strict  Discipline  Among  the  Miners. 

Mr.  Krook  rather  insinuated  en  returning  from  a  protracted 
residence  in  the  valley,  that  the  discover)^  of  gold  on  the  Klon- 
dike had  rather  tended  to  demoralize  the  people  and  give  rise  to 
more  or  less  unlawful  proceedings.  He  said,  though,  that  the 
miners  were  quite  competent  to  adjust  all  matters  of  difference, 
and  that,  as  a  rule,  it  was  woe  betide  the  man  who  transgressed 
the  laws  of  the  camp.     Continuing  he  said  : 

"  Until  this  spring  the  men  never  put  locks  on  the  doors  of 
the  cabins,  and  nothing  was  stolen.  You  might  go  into  any 
cabin  and  see  a  glass  or  a  tin  or  two  on  the  shelf  full  of  gold, 
and  no  one  would  think  of  touching  it.  Anyone  could  steal  if 
he  wanted  to  do  so,  but  there  were  good  reasons  why  they  did 
not.  It  was  only  after  the  mounted  police  arrived  that  locks 
and  bolts  became  a  necessity.  Before  that  there  were  what  we 
called  '  miners'  laws. 

"  Forty  or  fifty  of  the  miners  would   call   a  meeting,  select  a 


i58  CAMP   LIFE  AND    MORALS. 

chairman,  and  then  if  a  man  could  make  his  own   'talk, '  he  did 

so,  or  he  would  get  some  one  to  make  it  for  him.     When  both 

sides  of  the  case  had  been  heard  the  chairman  would  call  for  a 

vote.     The  decision  was  final. 

"  If  a  man  gave  trouble,  he  had  to  go.      Now,  they  do  not 

have  miners'  laws  any  more.     We  had  no  trouble  during  three 

years,  became  all   questions   were   settled   at  these   meeting  of 

miners.     A;',  disputes  about  claims  were  argued  and  adjudicated 

in  the  same  way." 

Sharpers  at  Their  W^ork. 

As  in  all  mining  districts,  where  great  fortunes  are  apt  to  be 
made  in  a  few  days  by  a  lucky  hit,  there  was  early  on  the  Klon- 
dike an  element  among  the  people  who  were  unwilling  to  obey 
either  the  statutes  of  the  government  or  the  unwritten  laws  of 
the  miners,  men  who  apparently  worried  their  brains  to  devise 
schemes  to  get  hold  of  claims,  to  evade  rules  and  to  gain  pos- 
session of  as  large  a  part  of  the  miners'  earnings  as  they  could. 
The  miners,  however,  soon  rose  up  against  this  element  at  the  dig- 
gings, as  they  had  previously  at  Dawson  City  and  the  older 
camps,  and  determined  that,  come  what  would,  order  should  be 
preserved  at  all  hazards. 

They  pointed  out  with  pride  that  there  had  been  a  vast  dif- 
ference between  the  camp  life  on  the  Yukon  and  the  camp  life 
of  the  days  of  '49,  the  difference  being  in  favor  of  the  days  of 
'97.  They  made  a  crusade,  as  strenuously  as  possible,  against 
gambling  and  the  sale  of  liquor.  Of  course,  it  could  not  be 
expected  that  drinking  and  gaming  could  be  entirely  prevented. 
But  the  miners,  realizing  their  own  best  interests,  did  good  work 
in  limiting  the  evil. 

The  United  States  statutes  distinctly  prohibit  the  importation 
of  liquor  into  Alaska  for  purposes  other  than  for  medicine,  but 
the  law  was  ignored  by  those  who  recognized  that  there  was  a 


CAMP   LIFE  AND    MORALS.  459 

glorious  opportunity  for  money  making  in  pushing  the  Hquor 
traffic.  Thousands  of  gallons  of  alcohol,  whiskey  and  brandy 
were  landed  almost  every  week  at  Dyea  and  other  towns,  from 
which  the  stock  was  transported  into  the  interior.  A  large  share 
of  these  goods  found  way  directly  to  the  Klondike. 

Whiskey  Came  High. 

The  worst  kind  of  whiskey  found  ready  sale  to  the  Indians  at 
three  dollars  per  bottle,  and  in  almost  every  bay  or  nook  of 
land  where  Indians  lived,  were  sloops  from  which  whiskey  was 
sold  in  abundance,  alike  to  natives  and  white  men.  At  Dyea 
and  Skaguay,  as  well  as  at  Juneau,  Wrangel,  Sitka,  and  other 
towns,  many  saloons  were  run  wide  open.  By  a  curious  contra- 
diction the  government  issued  internal  revenue  licenses,  and  at 
the  same  time  prohibited  the  importation  and  sale  of  liquors. 

A  word  may  be  said  of  the  ordinary  hfe  of  one  or  two  of  the 
older  towns  as  being  characteristic  of  the  country  outside  of  the 
mining  camps  proper.  Sitka,  the  capital  of  the  Territoiy,  is  a 
quaint  old  place  that  has  never  )xt  worn  off  the  glamor  of 
romance  and  myster}^  which  has  hung  over  it  ever  since  the  days  of 
Russian  occupation.  During  the  whole  of  1^97,  however,  the 
pathos  and  tragedy  of  romance  were  entirely  subordinated  to  the 
wild  and  feverish  frenzy  after  wealth  which  marked  the  year  after 
the  find  had  been  made  on  the  Klondike,  and  the  old  town  took 
on  a  briskness  and  life  that  it  had  never  known  before. 

Of  course,  Sitka  is  only  an  apology  for  a  city,  but  it  does 
have  many  of  the  conveniences  and  comforts  to  be  found  in  the 
older  States.  Hence,  the  prospector  or  miner  going  to  the  Klon- 
dike in  a  measure  gets  used  gradually  to  the  marked  change  from 
civilization  to  the  wilds.  Henry  Ellsworth  Haydon  has  a  word 
to  say  about  Sitka  which  is  worth  quoting  in  this  connection. 
Says  he : 


460  CAMP   LIFE   AND    MORALS. 

"  Let  me  tell  of  the  town  as  it  appeared  to  me  the  winter  of 
my  visit  there,  with  the  white  Chilkat  blanket  of  the  snow  spread 
over  its  shoulders  and  trailing  its  fringes  in  the  sea. 

"  Fancy  a  bracket  fastened  to  the  front  of  the  mountains  with 
its  outer  edges  washed  by  the  estuary  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and 
on  the  bracket  a  number  of  frame  buildings  of  all  sorts  and 
sizes — perched  like  birds  above  high- water  mark.  On  its  eastern 
side  vast,  towering,  snow-crowned  mountains  rise  mass  on  mass, 
precipice  above  precipice,  until  their  summits  seem  like  the  white, 
tapering  finger  of  a  giant  god,  reaching  upward  to  pluck  dia- 
mond stars  from  the  ether  of  the  winter  skies. 

Exposed  to  Wind  and  Storm. 

"  Northward,  low  lying  hills  stretching  in  endless  companion- 
ship toward  the  frozen  ocean,  and  across  their  desolate  solitudes 
the  wild  winds  of  storms  born  In  the  Arctic  blow  their  cold 
breath  out  over  the  little  city,  as  if  they  would  fain  freeze  the  in- 
habitants and  carry  their  congealed  bodies  into  the  sea.  West- 
ward, across  Gastineau  Channel,  Douglas  Island,  with  its  famous 
Treadwell  mine,  and  Douglas  City,  and  southward  lengthwise  ot 
the  bay  one  sees  the  trembling  waters  undulate  along  an  ocean 
horizon. 

"  Dwellers  in  cities  beyond  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  who  read  much  and  travel  little,  have  formed  queer 
and  mistaken  ideas  of  the  condition  of  society  in  places  known 
as  the  mining  camps  of  isolated  districts." 

Juneau,  from  which  so  many  thousands  took  their  way  to  the 
interior,  is  younger,  sturdier  and  more  enterprising  than  Sitka, 
and  may  serve  as  a  sort  of  transition  from  the  life  of  Southern 
Alaska  to  the  bona  fide  camp  life  of  the  north.  It  is  one  of  the 
most  cosmopolitan  little  places,  or  it  was  in  1897,  under  the  sun. 

Men  winter  at  Juneau  who  have  wandered  through  Australian 


CAMP   LIFE    AND    MORALS.  461 

forests,  prospected  Montana,  Idaho,  Nevada,  New  Mexico  and 
California  ;  been  tossed  about  in  whaling  and  scaling  vessels  on 
the  billowy  waters  of  the  Arctic  seas  ;  trailed  through  Asiatic 
deserts,  hunted  for  diamonds  in  Africa,  and  among  all  sorts  and 
conditions  of  people  have  learned  the  creed  of  the  wise  and 
the  brave,  to  accept  the  present  as  the  only  living  time,  and  await 
with  unspoken  faith  and  hope  whatever  the  future  may  bring 
them. 

They  are  pleasant  to  talk  with,  affable,  courteous,  intelligent, 
being  full  of  strange  stories  of  camp  and  field,  of  quartz  mines 
near  lonely  cabins  far  up  the  mountains,  and  placer  "  diggins  " 
in  populous  places  neai  to  the  sea,  and  all  the  wonderful  romances 
which  are  part  of  the  adventurer's  lot  in  whatsoever  land  his  tent 
may  be  pitched. 

Many  of  these  transient  pioneers  of  the  primeval  solitudes  of 
sea  and  forest  stay  at  Juneau  until  the  April  or  May  days  come, 
when  they  set  out  to  cross  the  divide  and  launch  themselves  in 
frail  canoes  or  on  crazy  rafts,  and  go  floating  down  the  mountain 
streams  to  the  Yukon  River.  For  the  most  part,  one  and  all 
have  the  same  purpose.  Those  of  the  prospectors,  or  fortune 
seekers,  who  have  spirit  and  energy  enough  to  bear  up  under 
the  trials  they  have  to  meet,  make  comparatively  jolly  parties, 
and  as  a  result  life  goes  on  noisily  along  the  trails  and  in  the 
camps  as  in  the  older  and  better  known  towns  that  serve  as  a 
threshold  to  the  country. 

Have  a  Rude  Awakening. 

When  once  the  camps  are  reached,  the  real  business  of  the 
pilgrimage  to  the  north  begins,  and  many  thousands  realize 
shortly  that  life  at  the  camps  is  an  entirely  different  matter  than 
they  had  anticipated.  The  common  experience  soon  settles 
down  to  a  round  of  duties  and  efforts  ;  and   the  absence  (3f  all 


462  CAMP   LIFE   AND   MORALS. 

that  the  fortune-seekers  have  been  accustomed  to,  emphasize  the 
unpleasant  features  of  the  new  hfe. 

There  were  not  lacking,  however,  early  in  the  days  of  the 
gold-working  enterprising  people,  who  sought  to  make  a  good 
thing  out  of  the  gold  craze,  not  by  mining,  but  by  catering  to 
the  pleasures  of  those  who  delved  and  washed  for  the  precious 
metal,  primitive  theatres  were  started  at  many  of  the  camps. 
Omer  Maris  speaks  of  one  of  these  playhouses  at  Circle  City  and 
says  that  it  met  a  positive  want  among  the  people.     Says  he  : 

"  The  present  conception  of  the  popular  taste  in  Alaska  seems 
to  be  that  the  public  wants  a  strong  show,  and  in  the  attempt  to 
meet  the  demand  the  managers  cannot  find  anything  up  to  the 
standard  in  books  and  are  driven  to  the  point  of  inviting  new 
features.  '  The  Man  from  Douglass  Island '  was  an  original 
drama  that  was  offered  to  the  people  of  Juneau. 

Barkeeper    Charley. 

"The  title  had  local  significance,  as  Douglass  Island  is  just 
across  the  channel  from  the  town.  It  was  a  very  successful 
play.  The  hero  was  a  barkeeeper  named  Charley,  and  the 
heroine,  to  use  the  hero's  own  words,  was  a  '  perfect  lady,'  who 
had  a  desire  to  see  something  of  the  town  with  a  fancy,  rather 
unusual  in  a  person  of  that  description,  for  incidentally  '  hit- 
ting the  pipe.' 

"There  was  a  bootblack,  a  Chinaman,  an  Irish  policeman, 
a  dude  and  a  number  of  sports  and  '  ladies '  in  the  piece. 
After  the  requisite  amount  of  adversity  and  bad  luck  had  been 
ground  out,  the  hero,  with  the  help  of  the  bootblack,  triumphed 
over  the  dude,  got  a  '  pull '  with  the  policeman,  married  the 
heroine  and  otherwise  attained  brilliant  success  as  the  proprietor 
of  the  '  finest  joint  in  the  town,'  to  quote  his  own  language 
again." 


CAMP  TLIFE   AND   MORALS.  463 

Those  familiar  with  the  scenes  of  revelry  and  riot  in  the 
days  of  the  Califomian  gold  fever  would  look  in  vain,  how- 
ever, along  the  Yukon  and  the  Klondike  for  anything  similar 
to  the  playhouses  of  '49. 

In  all  the  diggings  there  was,  as  might  be  expected,  more  or 
less  lawlessness  that  could  not  be  suppressed  either  by  the  govern- 
ment officials  or  by  the  better  class  of  the  miners  themselves.  It 
early  became  necessary  to  take  positive  steps  for  the  protection 
of  the  miners  and  their  claims.  The  Dominion  Cabinet  did 
much  to  preserve  order  and  prevent  anything  of  an  especially 
flagrant  kind. 

A  detachment  of  Canadian  mounted  police,  twenty-five  in 
number,  was  stationed  at  Fort  Cudahy,  opposite  Forty-Mile 
post,  and  the  owners  of  the  mine  there  applied  to  Captain  Con- 
stantinc,  in  command,  for  assistance  in  protecting  their  property. 

A  detachment  of  twelve  men  was  called  out  at  once  and  they 
made  the  trip  of  seventy  miles  to  the  seat  of  the  trouble  in  the 
shortest  time  on  record.  They  placed  their  arms  and  rations  in 
a  canoe,  put  in  two  or  three  Indians  with  poles  to  guard  against 
rocks,  and  then  the  twelve  men  took  a  line  and  towed  the  canoe 
the  whole  seventy  miles. 

It  was  expected  that  there  would  be  trouble  in  dispossessing 
the  claimants  who  caused  the  trouble,  but  the  Yukon  miners  are 
a  law-abiding  lot  generally,  and  at  the  display  of  authority  they 
submitted  and  the  owners  of  the  mine  were  given  possession. 
As  to  the  original  question  involved  it  was  soon  settled,  as  the 
owners  probably  got  their  legal  rights. 

Dawson  City  sprang  up  like  a  mushroom  and  was  one  of  the 
most  thriving  of  the  mining  towns  until  the  discovery  of  gold 
on  the  Klondike  directed  attention  thither  and  caused  ■  a  general 
stampede  to  the  new  diggings.  Edgar  A.  Mizner  gi-r^^  us  a 
little  peep  into  the  life  of  this  town. 


464  CAMP   LIFE   AND    MORALS. 

When  he  visited  it  Dawson  had  a  population  of  about  4000. 
This  was  just  before  the  Klondike  fever  broke  out  and  the  men 
hurried  away  as  rapidly  as  their  legs,  or  the  river  steamers,  or 
horses  or  dogs  and  sledges  could  carry  them.  Says  he  of  this 
camp  : 

"And  such  a  town  !  It  has  some  of  the  characteristics  of 
mining  camps  that  Bret  Harte  has  made  into  story,  but  it  has 
qualities  that  California  camps  never  had  and  never  could  have. 
The  game  of  life  is  played  fast,  and  the  boisterous  side  of  mining 
camps  is  developing  as  the  population  increases.  Now  Dawson 
would  match  Tombstone  when  Tombstone  was  young.  There 
are  gamblers  by  the  score,  and  there  are  dance  halls  by  the 
score. 

"  The  principal  source  of  fighting  in  frontier  mining  camps,  dis- 
putes over  the  possession  of  claims,  has  been  missing  up  to  this 
time  from  the  Klondike  region.  The  Canadian  mining  laws 
seem  fair,  and  they  are  regarded  and  are  enforced  as  well  as 
possible  by  the  small  official  force  representing  the  Dominion 
government.  A  section  in  the  law  prohibits  a  miner  from 
'taking  up'  more  than  one  claim  in  a  neighborhood.  This  pro- 
vision of  law  leads  to  caution  in  the  selection  of  claims,  and 
e.'-*'ops  land  grabbers  from  controlling  all  the  claims  in  sight." 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 
Domestic  Life  in  the  Wilds. 

Miners'  Experiences  not  those  of  a  mere  Romantic  Sojourn  in  the  Wilder- 
ness— Absence  of  Conveniences  and  Comforts — The  Older  Towns  Anti- 
quated and,  during  the  Gold  Craze,  Overcrowded — Graphic  Pictures  of 
Skaguay,  Dawson  City,  Circle  City,  and  Camp  Lake  Linderman — Hotel 
Project  for  the  Territory  that  Promises  to  be  the  Means  of  Furnishing  a 
Larger  Quota  of  Comforts — Women's  Influence  on  the  Domestic  Life — 
Some  of  Those  Who  Grace  the  Camps  with  their  Presence,  and  the  Par- 
ticular Line  of  Work  to  which  they  Devote  Themselves — Sisters  of 
Mercy  for  the  Sick  and  Dying,  and  Sisters    of  Cookery   for  the  Well. 

THE  domestic  life  of  Alaska  is  not  the  domestic  life  of  the 
old,  settled  communities  of  the  United  States,  and  the 
thousands  who  flocked  to  the  North,  whcit  the  Klondike 
fever  broke  out,  had  a  rude  awakening  from  their  dream  of  a 
merely  romantic  sojourn  in  the  wilderness.  Nor  did  it  require 
an  actual  residence  in  the  mining  camps  to  force  upon  the  fortune 
seekers  the  fact  that  they  were  entering,  not  merely  a  new  and 
.unknown  country,  but  a  new  and  unknown  series  of  domestic 
experiences. 

Even  the  oldest  of  the  Alaskan  cities — Sitka — is  but  the  veriest 
excuse  for  a  town,  despite  the  fact  that  its  history  and  its  fame 
date  from  the  early  days  of  the  Russian  occupation.  Conse- 
quently, the  moment  the  prospectors  and  miners  set  foot  on 
Alaskan  soil,  they  found  a  lack  of  the  conveniences  and  comforts 
to  which  they  had  been  accustomed.  These  did  not  exist  in  the 
city,  and  their  absence  was  accentuated  by  the  feverish  rush  and 
turmoil  that  characterized  the  place. 

It  was  literally  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  Sitka,  as  well  as  of 
Juneau  and  the  rest  of  the  older  towns  of  the  territory.  The 
gold  craze  came  in  a  moment,  and  there  was  no  opportunity  to 
30  465 


466  DOMESTIC   LIFE   IN   THE   WILDS. 

provide  for  the  horde  of  people  who  wended  their  way  toward 
the  diggings  as  soon  as  the  news  was  received  in  the  cities  of  the 
South.  Every  available  place  in  the  old  towns  was  filled  with 
newcomers,  and  on  the  outskirts  of  the  cities  there  were  little 
suburbs  of  tents,  which  were  pitched  for  the  temporary  accom- 
modation of  the  people. 

In  the  established  mining  camps  like  Dawson  City,  Circle  City, 
Sixty-Mile,  and  Forty-Mile,  the  state  of  affairs  was  not  essen- 
tially different  for  a  time.  Soon,  however,  there  was  a  general 
exodus  from  these  towns,  and  then  there  were  accommodations, 
and  to  spare.  In  Klondike  itself,  as  might  be  supposed,  it  was 
for  a  long  time  a  mere  matter  of  the  rudest  huts,  supplemented 

by  tents. 

No  Place  for  Style. 

In  this  world  of  antiquated  or  temporary  structures,  or  of  no 
structures  at  all,  the  domestic  arrangements  were  cast  upon  just 
such  lines  as  one  might  look  for  in  an  unsettled  country.  As 
the  reader  may  have  gleaned  from  the  preceding  pages,  it  was 
no  place  for  dress  suits  or  train  dresses,  and  those  who  went  to 
the  gold  fields  soon  learned  that  it  was  no  place  likewise  for  the 
conventionalities  of  ordinary  life.  Here  and  there,  to  be  sure, 
was  found  some  one  who  essayed  to  put  on  style.  But  these 
"fops  and  frumps"  were  early  taught  that  they  had  better  cast 
conventionality  to  the  winds,  and  adopt  the  rude  life,  Avith  its 
hearty,  whole-souled  ways,  which  obtains  in  all  mining  localities. 

A  mere  word  about  some  of  the  towns  will  enable  the  reader 
to  form  some  idea  of  the  "  home  "  life  that  necessarily  prevailed 
in  them.  Hal  Hoffman,  who  went  to  Alaska  on  a  special  mis- 
sion, early  in  August,  1897,  wrote  as  follows  of  Skaguay  : 

"  Skaguay  is,  at  this  date,  a  city  of  eleven  frame  or  log  houses, 
a  saw-mill,  five  stores,  four  saloons  a  crap  game,  a  faro  layout, 
blacksmith  shop,   five  restaurants,  which  are  feeding  people  aU 


DOMESTIC   LIFE   IN   THE   WILDS.  467 

the  time,  a  tailor  shop,  on  which  is  hung  the  sign  '  bloomers  fitted 
for  shotguns  ; '  a  real  estate  office,  two  practicing  physicians, 
another  professional  pathfinder  whose  specialty  is  shown  by  the 
sign  painted  on  a  board  nailed  to  a  tree,  '  teeth  extracted  ; '  some 
300  tents,  and  a  population  of  about  2000  men  and  seventeen 
women.  Four  of  the  women  arc  accompanying  their  husbands 
into  the  Klondike.     The  others  are  unchaperoned. 

"  A  dance  hall  will  be  erected  next  week.  Skaguay  is  already 
a  typical  mining  camp.  Its  population  is  proud  of  it.  They  go 
further,  and  say  it  will  be  a  *  hot  town  '  ne.xt  winter.  Streets 
have  been  laid  out.  Broadway  runs  from  high  tide  four  miles 
back  to  the  mountain  base,  and  is  walled  with  tents,  piles  of  sup- 
plies, and  felled  trees.  The  gold-seekers  never  overlook  an 
opportunity  to  make  fun  drown  their  impatience. 

"  The  event  of  to-day  was  a  foot  race  for  a  purse  of  twenty- 
five  dollars,  in  which  fifty  men  entered.  Lanterns  are  flickering 
like  fireflies  among  the  tents  to-night.  One  turns  his  glance 
with  a  shiver  from  the  snow-topped  mountains  which,  half  a  mile 
from  camp,  point  4000  feet  into  the  pale  night  overhead. 

Unique  Miners'   Meeting. 

"  A  miners'  meeting  stands  without  a  parallel  among  things 
unique.  It  was  recently  decided  at  such  a  meeting  at  Circle 
City  that  a  man  cannot  lick  his  own  dog.  What  a  miners'  meet- 
ing says  goes.  A  teamster  named  Cleveland  was  run  out  of 
town  two  days  ago  for  refusing  to  haul  a  corpse  free  of  charge. 
It  was  the  body  of  young  Dwight  B.  Fowler,  who  fell  into  the 
river  and  was  drowned  in  the  clear  water  in  sight  of  his  com- 
panions, owing  to  the  weight  of  the  pack  strapped  to  his  back." 

Another  writer  has  the  following  to  say  of  Dawson  City  about 
the  same  time  : 

"  There  are  several  j^ublic  resorts  in  Dawson — each  with  a  bar 


468  DOMESTIC   LIFE   IN   THE   WILDS. 

in  front,  gambling  tables  in  the  rear  and  a  dancing  floor  in  the 

middle.      Yukon  has  struck  the  typical  early  mining  camp  pace. 

Faro  and  poker  are  the  favorite  means  for  parting  with  gold  dust. 

One  hears  of  games  with  ^20  ante  and  ^50  to  call  blind.     They 

don't  have  money  in  circulation. 

"  There  is  no  such  thing   as   money.     When   you   go  in  just 

leave  your  sack  at  the  bar  and   say,  '  Give  me  five  hundred,'  or 

'  Give  me  a  thousand,'  and  get  your  chips,"  explained  a  Yukoner. 

"  Then  if  you  lose  you  can  call  for  what  you  want,  and  it's  just 

put  down,  and  when  you  get  through  they  just  weigh  out  what 

you  owe.      I   have   seen   fellows   go   in  with   ^50,000   they  had 

cleaned  up  and   go  out   with   an   empty   sack  and   go   to   work 

again." 

A  "Wretched    Place. 

Miss  Anna  Fulcomer,  who  lived  for  a  year  at  Circle  City  before 
seeking  the  Klondike  fields  with  the  rest  of  the  fortune-hunters, 
gives  a  rather  graphic  account  of  the  town.  Said  she,  in  a  letter 
written  to  her  sister  in  Chicago  : 

"  This  is  a  wretched  placet©  be  side-tracked  in.  A  poor  little 
town  with  few  houses,  and  those  for  the  most  part  of  bad  con- 
struction !  Not  the  possibility  of  going  anyw  here  and  getting 
out  of  sight  of  the  little  aggregation  of  buildings  without  going 
out  into  the  wilderness  away  from  everybody  and  everything ! 
To  do  this  requires  not  a  little  courage  and  energy.  People  here 
are  not  primarily  pleasure  seekers.  Those  who  have  come  here 
have  come  for  business,  and  this  becomes  manifest  in  everything, 
from  the  way  in  which  they  put  in  their  time  to  the  way  in  which 
they  dress  and  deport  themselves. 

"  There  is  no  such  thing  as  style.  There  is  little  visiting,  ex- 
cept to  kill  time  when  it  is  no  longer  possible  to  work.  You 
must  not  forget  that  this  is  the  land  of  the  midnight  sun,  and  that  it 
is  also   the  land   of  the   midday  moon.      Consequently  one  gets 


DOMESTIC   LIFE   IN   THE   WILDS.  469 

up,  works,  goes  to  bed,  does  everything  cither  by  sunlight  or  uy 
moonhght,  according  to  the  season  of  the  year,  without  the 
natural  phenomena  that  in  southern  latitudes  accompany  and  lend 
a  certain  character  to  the  duties  and  pleasures  of  life.  Every 
thing  seems  turned  about,  and  one  scarcely  has  the  inclination , 
even  though  he  might  have  the  opportunity,  to  do  as  they  do  in 
the  old  States. 

"  What  is  more,  there  seems  little  prospect  of  any  change  in 
domestic  conditions  for  the  better  for  many  a  long  day.  Even 
though  the  mining  interest  keeps  up,  the  influx  of  people  to  the 
camps  will  probably  be  so  largely  in  excess  of  the  accommoda- 
tions for  them,  and  they  will  bring  with  them  such  a  meager 
supply  of  conveniences  and  comforts,  that  the  prospect  is  that 
Dawson  City  and  Circle  City  will  continue  to  be  Dawson  City 
and  Circle  City  until  capitalists,  realizing  the  necessities  of  the 
towns,  will  take  steps  to  provide  ampler  and  better  accommoda- 
tions than  now  exist." 

At  Camp  Lake  Linderman. 

Of  the  camps  proper  William  J.  Jones  gives  a  fair  idea.  Says 
he  of  Camp  Lake  Linderman  : 

"  From  fifty  to  one  hundred  white  tents,  as  many  camp  fires 
and  nearly  200  people  constitutes  the  little  colony  of  gold-seek- 
ers who  are  camped  here,  building  boats  and  awaiting  an  oppor- 
tunity to  sail  down  the  river.  It  is  remarkable  to  note  the 
difference  in  the  personnel  of  the  men.  Only  the  better  and 
more  substantial  clement  is  able  to  cope  with  the  hardships  and 
reach  this  far.  It  would  seem  that  the  less  perseveing,  or  what 
might  more  properly  be  termed  the  lazier  classes,  are  to  be  found 
scattered  along  the  trail  between  Dyea  and  Sheep  Camp,  be- 
moaning and  bewailing  the  hardships  they  are  undergoing. 
They  are  having  a  picnic  if  they  only  realize  that  much,  as  com- 


470  DOMESTIC   LIFE   IN   THE   WILDS. 

pared  with  what  they  will  experience  after  passing  Sheep  Camp. 
"  There  is  one  saloon  at  Lake  Linclcrman,  and  it  is  doing  a 
thriving  business  in  a  tent.  Without  a  license  or  other  lawful 
restriction  and  with  the  poorest  quality  of  liquor,  so  diluted  as  to 
be  unrecognizable  to  the  fastidious  taste  of  experienced  epicures, 
the  proprietor  is  coining  money  by  selling  drinks  at  50  cents 
each.  A  bottle  of  whiskey  is  worth  ^15.  As  the  Indians 
arrive  in  from  the  coast  with  their  packs  and  receive  there 
stipends,  averaging  about  ^30,  they  are  inveigled  into  the  saloon 
and  made  drunk.  A  few  drinks  and  a  bottle  of  vile  concoction 
called  whiskey,  and  they  are  "  broke."  After  sobering  up  they 
are  ready  to  "  hit  the  trail  "  and  get  another  pack.  Some  of  the 
nights  are  made  wild  and  hideous  with  the  orgies  of  these  natives." 

Hotel  for  Alaska. 

Early  in  August,  1897,  the  North  American  Trading  and 
Transportation  Company  took  the  very  step  that  Miss  Fulcomer 
advocated  and  perfected  a  plan  for  the  transportation  to  Alaska 
of  a  hotel  which  would  accommodate  about  500  people.  It  was 
the  plan  to  have  the  frame  work  sawed,  finished,  and  put  in  such 
shape  as  to  be  ready  for  erection  as  soon  as  the  material  could 
be  transported  to  the  Territory.  The  decision  once  m?.de,  active 
steps  were  taken  toward  carrying  out  the   project. 

The  new  hotel  was  designed  for  Fort  Get  There,  on  St. 
Michael's  Island.  This  was  nothing  but  a  trading  post  of  the 
company  situated  about  a  mile  from  the  town  of  St.  Michael's, 
and  only  a  hundred  yards  from  the  canal.  At  the  time  the  en- 
terprise was  planned,  and  steps  were  taken  to  carry  it  out,  there 
were  only  about  twenty  white  men  and  probably  twice  as  many 
Indians  there.  The  plan  of  the  hotel  resembled  a  fort,  being 
.square,  with  a  court  in  the  center  and  a  tower  on  cither  corner. 
Speaking  of  the  enterprise,  Mr.  P.   B.  Weare  said  at  the  time : 


DOMESTIC    LIFE    IN   THE   WILDS.  471 

"  A  special  train  of  ten  cars  will  convey  the  hotel  furnishings 
and  the  steamer  J.  C.  Barr,  recently  purchased  at  Toledo,  to 
Seattle,  in  time  to  catch  the  City  of  Cleveland,  which  sails 
September  loth.  The  J.  C.  Barr,  which  is  now  being  taken 
apart  preparatory  to  shipment,  is  intended  for  use  on  the  Yukon 
River,  and  will  make  the  fourth  boat  the  company  expects  to 
have  in  operation  on  the  river  at  the  opening  of  the  spring 
season. 

"  I  do  not  know  how  soon  we  can  carry  out  all  our  inten- 
tions," continued  Mr.  Weare,  "  but  we  realize  the  fact  that 
domestic  life  in  Alaska  is  in  a  large  measure  a  matter  of  hardship 
and  privation,  and  we  know  that  there  ought  to  be  ampler 
accommodations  provided  for  the  people.  It  is  not,  in  that  cold 
climate,  as  it  was  in  California  in  the  days  of  '49,  for  there,  if  the 
miners  had  not  houses,  it  did  not  entail  suffering  or  danger  to 
camp  out  with  nothing  but  the  sky  overhead  and  a  blanket 
wrapped   around  them. 

"  In  Alaska  one  cannot  put  up  with  camp  fires  and  such  con- 
veniences as  can  easily  be  carried  about  on  a  pack  saddle.  It  is 
often  terribly  cold  and  the  miners,  in  order  to  survive  and  keep 
themselves  in  fit  condition  to  do  their  work,  have  to  have  good 
protection  from  the  inclemencies  of  the  weather. 

Accommodations    Not  Good. 

"  These,  it  need  not  be  said,  do  not  now  exist.  Of  course,  in 
the  old  towns  in  Southeastern  Alaska,  there  are  a  number  of 
places  where  strangers  can  get  fairly  good  accommodations,  but 
these  accommodations  vanish  as  soon  as  one  heads  his  way 
toward  the  interior.  The  tramp  over  the  mountains  and  through 
the  valleys,  of  course,  must  necessarily  be  one  fraught  with  all 
the  dangers  and  inconveniences  and  hardships  of  a  journey  in 
the  wilderness.      But  at  the  present  time  even  in  the  old  mining 


472  DOMESTIC    LIFE   IN   THE   WILDS. 

towns — you  will  understand  I  mean  by  old  such  places  as  Daw- 
son City  and  Circle  City — the  existing  condition  of  things  is 
such  that  one  can  scarcely  speak  of  domestic  life  at  all.  It  is 
simply  life  without  the  domestic." 

Yet  it  was  into  this  wilderness,  devoid  as  it  was  of  most  of 
the  amenities  of  civilized  life,  that  scores  of  women  of  educa- 
tion and  '-efinement  took  their  way,  actuated  by  various  motives, 
Man  was  not  to  have  the  Klondike  country  to  himself  If  there 
were  no  sidewalks  and  boulevards,  no  boudoirs  or  parlors,  the 
women  meant  to  go  there  and  share  with  their  husbands  and 
brothers  and  fathers  the  strange  experiences  of  the  mining 
camps.  That  the  news  of  this  exodus  of  women  to  the  dig- 
gings was  cheering  news  to  the  miners,  needs  scarcely  to  be  said. 

"Women  Off  for  the  Diggings. 

In  the  middle  of  August,  1897,  an  announcement  of  the 
intention  of  women  to  go  to  the  North  was  made  in  the  follow- 
ing words  : 

"  Woman's  refining  hand  is  to  be  laid  on  the  camps  at  Dawson 
City  and  other  Arctic  settlements.  The  home  comforts  of  civil- 
ization are  to  be  introduced  in  a  country  in  which  they  have 
been  hitherto  sadly  lacking.  This  winter  will  bring  a  radical 
change  in  domestic  and  social  conditions  in  that  far-off  part  of 
the  world  and  enforced  seclusion  will  be  relieved  of  its  greatest 
terrors. 

"  Eight  Illinois  women  have  thus  far  announced  their  purpose 
to  make  the  pilgrimage  to  the  gold  fields  of  Alaska,  and  this 
number  is  likely  to  be  doubled  before  the  last  steamer  of  the 
season  sails  from  Seattle.  Similar  reports  come  from  other 
States,  so  there  is  a  strong  certainty  that  the  Klondike  district 
is  to  have  an  agreeable  and  useful  addition  to  its  present 
population. 


DOMESTIC    LIFE    IN   THE    WILDS.  473 

"  Some  of  these  women  are  the  wives  of  men  now  in  Alaska 
wresting  wealth  from  the  frozen  earth — these  go  to  make  lighter 
for  their  husbands  the  hardships  of  an  Arctic  winter.  Others 
will  make  the  long  and  dangerous  journey  to  dig  gold  for  them- 
selves, to  make  money  by  keeping  boarders,  by  ministering  with 
needle  and  thread  to  the  wants  of  helpless  masculinity — and 
even  by  running  newspapers,  in  which  the  lucky  strikes,  the  sad 
failures,  social  doings,  and  all  the  breezy  gossip  of  the  camps 
will  be  duly  chronicled. 

"  Then  there  are  others — women  of  mercy — whose  sole 
object  in  braving  Arctic  perils  is  to  care  for  the  sick  and 
afflicted,  to  nurse  back  to  life  and  strength  the  victims  of  acci- 
dent or  disease,  and  soothe  the  last  moments  of  those  who 
receive  the  final  summons  to  the  great  beyond. 

Promise  is  Fulfilled. 

The  promise  held  forth  to  the  miners  of  having  woman's 
influence  in  their  rude  life,  was  carried  out  with  a  fulness  they 
little  anticipated.  Mrs.  Caroline  Wescott  Romney,  a  Chicago 
woman,  early  expressed  her  determination  to  go  to  the  Klondike 
and  pass  the  winter.  It  was  not  her  intention  to  go  on  a  plea- 
sure jaunt,  but  strictly  on  a  business  venture,  and  on  one  well 
calculated  to  make  the  camp  life  brighter  and  better.  Her 
main  purpose  was  to  start  a  newspaper  at  Dawson  City,  and  she 
decided  to  take  with  her  a  complete  printing  outfit,  so  that  she 
could  issue  a  little  sheet  and  supply  the  mining  community  not 
merely  with  news  about  local  doings,  but  with  reprinted  matter, 
which  would  serve  to  instruct  and  amuse  the  people. 

Mrs.  Romney  had  had  a  good  deal  of  experience  in  a  similar 
line  in  Leadville  and  Durango  in  the  boom  days  of  Colorado. 
She  was  a  strong  believer  in  mines  and  mining,  and,  having 
worked  with  success  in  this  line  in  Colorado,  and  also  in  Mexico, 


474  DOMESTIC    LIFE    IN    THE   WILDS. 

she  thought  she  could  enter  the  Yukon  valley  and  by  her  enter- 
prise meet  a  decided  want  in  the  domestic  life  of  the  community. 
Speaking  of  her  project  before  she  started,  she  said  : 

"  Of  one  thing  I  am  confident,  there  is  gold  in  plenty  in  Alaska. 
I  believe  there  is  a  fortune  for  me,  and  I  am  going  to  get  it  or 
know  the  cause  of  failure.  What  is  more,  I  am  not  going  to 
work  in  the  mines,  but  in  the  camps  and  for  the  benefit  of  the 
people.  I  do  not  think  there  is  any  occasion  for  the  lawlessness 
that  has  characterized  almost  every  mining  community  on  record. 
That  sort  of  thing  springs  up  primarily  from  the  absence  of  those 
conveniences  and  comforts  that  in  these  days  legitimate  enter- 
prise could  easily  supply." 

Mrs.  Gage's  Enterprise. 

Mention  has  been  made  elsewhere  in  this  volume  of  the  enter- 
prise of  Mrs.  Eli  S.  Gage,  who  left  her  cozy  home  in  Chicago 
and  went  to  the  mining  region  to  be  with  her  husband  and  lend 
what  influence  she  could  for  the  good  of  the  camp  life.  She 
left  Chicago  early  in  the  fall  of  1 897  and  took  her  way  to  the 
diggings  by  way  of  the  Chilkoot  Pass.  According  to  the  plans 
of  Mrs.  Gage,  as  expressed  before  starting,  she  intended  to  keep 
house  in  Northern  Alaska,  doing  the  cooking,  washing  and  other 
forms  of  housework  herself 

There  are  no  trained  servants  or  domestic  help  in  the  Tcrri- 
tor>%  and  consequently  it  is  a  practice  of  the  miners  to  shift  for 
themselves  the  best  way  they  can.  It  was  Mrs.  Gage's  opinion, 
which  was  also  shared  by  the  officers  of  the  transportation  com- 
pany with  which  her  husband  is  connected,  that  the  presence  of 
herself  and  other  women  cif  good  character  would  have  a  great 
influence  in  brightening  and  making  more  agreeable  the  long 
winters  of  the  northern  region. 

Mrs.  A.  W.  Little  also  left  her  Chicago  home  and  followed  the 


DOMESTIC    LIFE    IN   THE    WILDS.  475 

example  of  Mrs.  Gage.  She  went  to  Alaska  well  equipped  for 
a  winter  in  which  the  cold  often  gets  as  low  as  60  degrees  below 
zero.  Before  starting  from  her  home  she  had  an  outfit  of  dogs 
and  sledges  prepared  and  in  waiting  for  her  at  Dyea,  to  transport 
her  over  the  snow-clad  country  to  Dawson  City. 

Willing  to  Meet  Danger. 

Miss  Pauline  Kellogg,  of  Chicago,  daughter  of  Judge  Kellogg, 
a  pioneer  miner  of  Colorado,  and  a  woman  well  trained  in  mining 
life,  also  went  to  the  diggings  in  the  fall  of  1897.  Early  in  her 
life  Miss  Kellogg  had  lived  in  a  Rocky  Mountain  cabin  and  had 
become  proficient  in  miners'  work.  She  knew  exactly  what  peo- 
ple in  a  district  like  the  Yukon  valley  had  to  experience,  and 
had  a  lively  recollection  of  the  hardships  imposed  by  such  do- 
mestic life  as  one  has  to  encounter  in  camp  life. 

"Danger!"  said  Miss  Kellogg,  before  taking  the  train  from 
Chicago.  "  Of  course  there  will  be  danger,  but  I  have  been  all 
through  Colorado  when  that  countr)"  was  new,  and  I  think  I  can 
take  care  of  myself  in  Alaska.  I  am  not  sure  that  I  shall  be 
much  of  a  success  in  the  mining  role,  but  I  do  think  I  can  be  of 
a  whole  of  service  to  the  miners,  and  if  I  fail  in  one  line  I  shall 
hope  to  make  it  up  in  another." 

Mrs.  William  Chase  was  one  of  the  hundreds  to  brave  the 
perils  of  the  new  life  to  carry  something  of  life  and  cheerfulness 
into  the  miners'  experiences.  She  left  her  Chicago  home  to 
join  her  husband  on  the  Yukon  and  help  him  and  his  associates. 
She  expressed  a  determination  to  keep  house,  to  attend  to  the 
cooking  and  other  domestic  duties  herself,  and  so  far  as  she 
could,  to  teach  and  assist  the  miners  and  prospectors  who  had 
no  woman's  hand  to  help  them  to  do  likewise. 

"  In  this  way,"  she  said,  "  I  can  be  of  more  use  to  them  than 
by  digging  in  a  pit  like  a  man.     What  makes  life  in  the  Arctic 


476  DOMESTIC    LIFE    IN   THE   WILDS. 

Circle  so  hard  to  bear,  I  am  told,  is  the  absence  of  home  com- 
forts. These  I  propose  to  furnish  to  as  great  an  extent  as  possi- 
ble, and  it  will  be  much  better,  even  if  I  am  not  very  successful, 
than  to  have  my  husband  up  there  alone.      The  miners  I  know 

will  welcome  me." 

Their  Mission  of  Mercy. 

Mention  was  briefly  made  elsewhere  of  the  two  Sisters  of 
Mercy  who,  in  the  early  days  of  the  gold  craze  started  for  the 
North  to  minister  to  those  who  might  need  their  assistance. 
They  started  from  San  Francisco  for  St.  Michael's  Island,  mean- 
ing to  push  on  to  the  interior  by  as  rapid  stages  as  possible. 
Their  avowed  intention  was  to  nurse  the  sick  and  solace  the 
dying  in  Northern  Alaska.  They  were  Sister  Mary  of  the 
Cross  and  Sister  Mary  Magdalene  of  the  Sacred  Heart. 

In  striking  contrast  to  the  heavy  clothing  and  big  outfits 
of  provisions  and  tools  of  gold-seekers  were  the  simple  black 
habits  of  the  sisters.  They  had  no  stores  of  groceries,  no 
supply  of  furhned  garments,  no  equipment  of  tools.  Two  hand 
satchels  and  a  couple  of  trunks  in  the  steamer's  hold  contained 
all  their  worldly  goods.  When  asked  if  they  were  not  afraid 
to  venture  into  so  cold  and  desolate  a  country  with  such  a 
.scanty  outfit.  Sister  Mary  Magdalene  said :  "  The  Lord  will 
provide.  We  go  to  do  his  work  and  he  will  take  care  of  us." 
This  simple  statement  had  an  impressive  effect  upon  the  passen- 
gers and  crew,  and  every  man  on  the  boat  became  a  helpful  ally 
of  the  .sisters. 

Mrs.  Bessie  Thomas,  of  San  Francisco,  also  early  left  for  the 
Klondike  fields,  but  her  mission  was  an  entirely  different  one. 
She  did  not  go  to  care  for  the  sick  and  solace  the  dying,  but  to 
give  the  miners  and  prospectors  good,  wholesome  dinners  and 
suppers  and  keep  them  well.  In  other  words,  Mrs.  Thomas  in- 
tended to  start  a  restaurant,  and  while  primarily  it  was  a  busi- 


DOMESTIC    LIFE   IN   THE   WILDS.  477 

ncss  venture  on  her  part,  it  was  one  that  met  a  crying  want  of 
the  mining  camps. 

It  can  readily  be  understood  that  with  a  meager  supply  of 
cooking  utensils,  and  no  skill  in  the  art  of  cooking,  the  majority 
of  the  miners  and  prospectors  were  in  rather  a  bad  way  in  the 
matter  of  providing  their  meals.  Mrs.  Thomas  was  shrewd 
enough  to  recognize  this  and  take  advantage  of  the  opportunity 
offered  her.  Further,  there  was  a  touch  of  real  philanthropy  in 
her  project.      Before  leaving  San   Francisco   Mrs.  Thomas  said  : 

"  Miners  have  got  to  eat  and  I  think  there  is  more  money  to 
be  made  in  feeding  them  than  in  slaving  my  life  away  here.  I 
have  got  to  earn  my  own  Itving,  and  I  do  not  see  why  there 
shouldn't  be  just  as  good  a  chance  for  me  in  a  mining  camp  as 
there  is  for  a  man.  There  is  another  side  to  this  matter,  too. 
Here  I  just  do  my  work  for  the  pittance  accorded  me,  and  don't 
know  I  am  doing  anybody  any  especial  good  or  myself  either. 

"I  do  know  that  one  of  the  most  important  things  in  a  mining 
community  is  for  the  men  to  have  good,  wholesome  meals, 
properly  cooked  and  served.  In  the  diggings,  I  am  told,  the 
diet  is  almost  exclusively  one  of  fish  and  canned  goods.  A  diet 
of  this  sort  becomes  very  monotonous,  and  if  a  few  good,  whole- 
souled  women  would  go  up  north  and  look  after  the  culinary 
end  of  the  camp  life,  there  would  be  a  great  sight  more  happi- 
ness as  well  as  a  great  deal  less  disease." 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Ethnography. 

Census  of  Alaska — Russian  Estimates  of  Population — Classification  of  the 
Indians — History  of  the  Thlinkets — Characteristics  Suggestive  of  Asiatic 
Origin  —  Savage  Customs  Largely  Abandoned — Chilkats  and  their 
Traits — Hootzanoos  and  "Hoochinoo" — The  Sitkans  and  Stickines — 
Among  the  Aleuts. 

ONE  of  the  most  engros.sing  and  perplexing  problems  of  the 
ethnologist  is  presented  by  the  aboriginal  native  inhabitants 
of  the  islands  and  mainlancl  of  Alaska.  Many  of  them 
present  characteristics  at  variance  with  any  prediction  of  ultimate 
American  origin.  White  people  going  into  the  country  are  apt 
to  regard  the  aborigines  as  a  branch  of  the  great  race  of  North 
American  Indians,  and  that  they  are  called  Indians  in  common 
parlance  greatly  favors  this  misconception  ;  but  to  the  student, 
most  of  them  are  absolute  and  distinct,  with  not  a  drop  of  Ameri- 
can Indian  blood  in  their  veins,  unless  it  has  come  from  cross- 
breeding with  the  red  Indians  further  south. 

The  population  of  Alaska  is  classified  as  white,  mixed-Indian, 
Indian,  Mongolian,  and  all  others.  Some  figures  as  to  its  ex- 
tent are  interesting,  as  serving  to  correct  many  commonly  held 
mis-opinions  on  the  subject. 

Census  of  Alaska. 

The  United  States  Census  of  1890  was  the  first  organized 
effort  to  get  at  the  facts  of  the  population  of  this  great  territory, 
one-sixth  the  size  of  the  nation  of  which  it  is  a  part.  It  showed 
the  total  of  inhabitants,  living  in  309  settlements,  was  32,052, 
of  whom  4298  were  white;  1823  mixed-Indian;  23.531  Indian; 
and  2288   Mongolian.      Of  these  the  Greek  Church  claimed  as 

478 


ETHNOGRAPHY.  479 

converts  10,335,  ^^  whom  8414  were  natives  ;  the  Presbyterian, 
1334,  of  whom  1260  were  natives;  and  the  Roman  CathoHc, 
49S,  the  natives  numberini^  131.  This  topic  is  more  ehiborately 
treated  in  the  chapter  on  "  The  Spread  of  Christianity." 

The  efforts  of  the  Czar's  officers  to  obtain  a  census  were  crude 
and  the  results  altogether  valueless  as  statistics.  Delarof's 
estimate,  made  in  1792,  gave  6510  natives  to  Kadiak  Island 
and  the  near  mainland  region.  Baranof,  in  1796,  made  the  total 
in  the  same  area  6200,  but  he  also  reported  a  probable  total  of 
5000  Thlinkets,  unsubdued  and  not  enumerated.  Baron 
Wrangel,  in  1825,  estimated  the  total  population  at  8481. 
Veniaminof  made  three  censuses:  in  1831,  of  the  Aleuts,  whom 
he  numbered  at  1515  ;  in  1835,  of  the  ThHnkets,  whom  he  esti- 
mated at  5850  ;  and  in  1839,  of  the  entire  population,  which  he 
placed  at  39,813  ;  a  remarkably  close  result  when  it  is  under- 
stood that  nearly  all  the  statistics  of  natives  were  the  result  of 
what  might  be  called  scientific  guess-work.  In  1 860  the  Holy 
Synod  made  a  census  of  the  Christian  population  of  both  sexes 
and  fixed  the  total  at  9845,  exclusive  of  the  Russian  employes 
of  the  company. 

Classification   of  Indians. 

General  Halleck,  U.  S.  A.,  made  an  estimate  of  the  inhabi- 
tants in  1868,  which  was  extravagantly  wild,  even  for  guess- 
work, the  total  being  put  at  82,400,  or  fully  50,000  too  many, 
as  shown  by  the  careful  enumeration  based  on  actual  count  in 
the  census  of  1890. 

Along  linguistic  lines  the  Indians  of  Alaska  are  divided  in  the 
elements  of  stock  and  strength  as  follows  : 

Esquimeaux,  inhabiting  the  coast  from  Copper  River  to  the 
northern  extremity  of  the  international  boundary  line. 

Thlinkets,  occupying  the  coast  southeast  of  Copper  River,  and 


480  ETHNOGRAPHY. 

known  variously  as  Chilkats,  Auks,  Takus,  Hootzanoos  (on 
Admiralty  Island),  Sitkans  and  Tongass. 

Aleuts,  on  the  Aleutian  Islands. 

Athapascans  (Tinnehs),  living  in  the  interior  and  known  as 
Kutchins  and  Ingaliks. 

Tsimpseans  (of  foreign  extraction)  on  Annette  Island,  princi- 
pal type. 

Skittagans,  the  Haydas  of  Prince  of  Wales  Island,  principal 
type. 

It  will  be  best  to  examine  these  rather  in  the  order  of  their 
importance  than  of  their  strength. 

The  Thlinkets. 

Thlinket,  the  name  given  to  the  people  by  themselves,  means 
"  the  people "  and  indicates  the  esteem  in  which  this  once 
powerful  family  was  held  by  its  savage  tribesmen.  These 
aborigines  are  lighter  colored  than  the  North  American  Indian, 
and  in  many  more  important  particulars  are  radically  different 
from  their  red  neighbors. 

There  are  many  separate  tribes  of  Thlinkets  and,  as  many 
unreliable  traditions  of  supernatural  origin,  a  deluge  and  a  sole 
surviving  couple.  Their  propitiation  of  evil  spirits,  their  Sha- 
manism, their  belief  in  the  transmigration  of  souls,  their  worship- 
ful regard  for  the  spirits  and  ashes  of  their  ancestors,  would 
suggest  an  Asiatic  origin.  Their  methods,  tools  and  postures 
are  Japanese.  Their  totem  poles  are  like  those  of  the  Maoris 
and  South  Sea  Islanders.  Their  sun  and  nature  worship  and 
their  legends  of  the  Thunder  Bird  are  Aztec.  Totemism  is  the 
base  of  their  social  organization,  but  the  totem  pole  has  no 
religious  significance,  and  is  not  an  object  of  worship.  Its  pur- 
pose seems  to  be  purely  heraldic. 

A  theory  which  would  go  far  to  explain   the  Asiatic  charac- 


ETHNOGRAPHY.  48\ 

teristics  of  the  Thlinkcts  and  other  similar  Alaskan  peoples,  and 
which  has  found  many  advocates  among  scholars  is  based  upon' 
the  action  of  the  Kuro  Siwo,  or  Japan  current,  which  sweeps 
around  through  the  ocean  from  the  shores  of  the  Chrysan- 
themum Empire  and  passing  to  the  south  of  the  Aleutian  Islands 
washes  the  northwestern  coast  of  the  American  continent.  It 
has  been  conjectured  that  in  some  remote  age  Japanese  junks 
with  their  crews,  which  in  ancient  times  were  often  composed  of 
men  and  women,  were  caught  in  terrific  storms  and  partly 
wrecked,  so  that  return  to  the  home  port  was  impossible  ;  that 
the  disabled  hulks,  caught  in  the  ever-flowing  current,  drifted 
helplessly  around  the  circuit  of  the  North  Pacific  and  were 
finally,  with  the  remnants  of  their  ill-starred  crews,  cast  upon 
the  shores  of  the  Alaskan  Archipelago.  Granted  that  all  this 
came  to  pass,  environment  would  easily  account  for  the  differ- 
entiation from  the  parent  Asiatic  stock  which  marks  the  Alaskan 
Indian  of  the  days  of  histor^^ 

Famished  Japanese  Sailor. 

This  hypothesis  of  an  Asiatic  origin,  fanciful  as  it  may  seem 
in  some  ways,  is  not  altogether  without  the  support  of  facts. 
Within  the  memory  of  living  men  a  Japanese  junk  was  cast 
ashore  near  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  River,  and  from  the 
wreck  was  rescued  the  sole  survivor  of  its  crew,  a  famished  and 
sea-crazed  Japanese  sailor,  who  was  able  to  relate  before  he  died 
the  story  of  the  awful  storm,  which  drove  himself  and  his  com- 
panions into  the  wilderness  of  the  ocean  on  which  he  drifted  for 
eight  months,  his  comrades  dying  one  by  one  along  that  awful 
unmarked  trail  through  the  billows.  Perchance,  the  hardier 
men  of  another  age  might  have  endured  such  a  terrible  voyage 
with  death  and  still  survived  with  vigor  enough  to  found  a  new 
race  in  a  new  land, 
31 


482  ETHNOGRAPHY. 

In  many  ways  the  Thlinkets  strongly  resemble  the  Japanese. 
They  have  the  same  small  hands  and  feet  and  their  features  are 
much  like  those  of  the  Mikado's  people.  Their  babies  are  fat 
and  chubby,  and  were  a  Thiinket  and  a  Japanese  infant  to  be 
dressed  exactly  alike  and  placed  side  by  side  it  is  likely  none  but 
the  mothers  could  tell  certainly  which  was  which  merely  by  look- 
ing. They  resemble  the  Japanese,  too,  in  not  being  robust  and 
in  their  extreme  veneration  for  old  age — wherein  they  differ  much 
from  some  whites. 

Physically  the  Thlinkets  are  magnificent  specimens  from  the 
waist  upwards.  But  they  are  pigeontoed  and  bowlegged  and  as 
awkward  as  aquatic  birds  upon  the  land.  This  is  their  heritage 
from  generations  of  canoeing  ancestors,  whose  warped  postures 
in  their  frail,  rude  boats  have  thus  stamped  a  trait  upon  their 
descendants. 

fiingular  Customs  of  the  Natives. 

Though  the  Thlinkets  are  pretty  well  civilized,  they  still  retain 
traces  of  their  ancient  savage  customs.  Some  of  the  oldest  hags 
still  wear  the  laviette,  a  metal  or  wooden  plug  piercing  the  under 
lip  and  supposed  to  enhance  the  beauty  of  the  wearer.  Tatoo- 
ing,  once  almost  universal,  has  nearly  disappeared,  but  they  all 
paint  for  great  dances  and  "potlatches,"  and  in  summer  men  and 
women  daub  and  blacken  their  faces  as  protection  against  the 
insect  pests.  Polygamy  and  polyandry  are  now  practically  ex- 
tinct, though  both  were  formerly  common.  They  are  super- 
stitious to  a  degree,  and  until  Captain  Merriman,  U.  S.  N.,  whom 
they  called  a  great  "  tyce  "  or  king,  because  of  his  impartial  and 
successful  administration  of  the  government,  broke  the  power  of 
the  shamans,  or  medicine  men,  witchcraft  and  its  attendant  hor- 
rors were  common.     Now  a  witch  is  never  heard  of. 

Though  strong,  the  Thlinkets  are  not  a  hardy  people  nor  as  a 
rule  long  li\cd.      Consumption  is  common  and  generally  makes 


ETHNOGRAPHY.  483 

a  speedy  end  of  its  victims.  They  are  being  fast  thinned  out  by 
disease  and  dissipation.  The  whites  have  proved  a  curse  to 
them  in  both  directions.  They  are  great  gamblers  and  a  true 
Thiinket  will  bet  everything  he  owns,  from  his  wives  up.  They 
drink  white  man's  rum  when  they  can  get  it,  which  is  not  seldom, 
and  otherwise  their  own  home-made  "  hoochinoo."  And  they  go 
on  fearful  sprees. 

Slavery  is  another  of  the  ancient  customs  which  has  been  out- 
grown. Prisoners  of  war  were  always  made  slaves,  unless  they 
were  butchered  to  make  a  Thiinket  holiday  in  the  days  of  the 
nation's  savagery,  and  their  lot  was  of  the  hardest.  One  of  the 
least  enjoyable  portions  of  these  slaves  was  to  be  killed  at  the 
grave  of  the  master,  especially  if  the  latter  happened  to  have 
been  a  chief.  Cannibalism,  which  was  not  uncommon  among 
the  Indians  at  an  early  date,  is  also  now  happily  a  thing  of  the 
past.  Akin  to  this  barbarity  was  the  exposure  of  female  infants, 
but  this  abominable  practice  has  also  been  abandoned. 

How  Great  Events  W^ere  Celebrated. 

The  "  patlatch  "  is  an  ancient  and  honorable  custom  which  has 
passed  into  innocuous  desuetude  with  most  of  the  Thiinkets. 
Formerly  every  great  event  was  celebrated  with  a  "patlatch,"  and 
as  the  festivity  was  an  expensive  one,  requiring  the  utmost  lavish- 
ness  in  entertaining,  not  only  in  the  distribution  of  meat  and  drink, 
but  of  blankets  and  other  presents,  it  sometimes  made  a  man  poor 
to  be  rich.  Now  the  ambition  of  these  Indians  seems  to  be  to 
live  and  dress  as  much  like  the  whites  as  possible.  They  retain 
the  barbarian's  love  for  gaudy  things,  however,  feathers  being 
their  especial  pride  for  decoration,  and  a  Thiinket  in  full  dress  is 
a  gay  sight  indeed. 

As  a  people  they  are  brave  in  a  relative  sense — that  is,  they 
can  fight   like  demons  when  cornered,  or  when   opposed  to  a 


484  ETHNOGRAPHY. 

weak  enemy  ;  but  are  not  overprone  to  pick  quarrels  with  those 
stronger  than  themselves.  They  are  venturesome  to  reckless- 
ness in  their  sea  voyages,  making  trips  in  their  small  boats  which 
would  daunt  a  white  man  in  his  larger  craft.  They  have  given 
up  war,  but  the  old  spirit  still  makes  them  among  the  hardiest 
sailors  of  the  Pacific.  In  manner  they  are  dignified,  but  cour- 
teous, and  they  are  extremely  hospitable.  Withal  they  are  great 
sticklers  in  matters  of  ceremony,  and  a  fancied  slight  has  been 
known  to  end  in  bloodshed.  In  their  habits  they  are  the  oppo- 
site of  lazy,  and  nearly  all  the  able-bodied  men  among  the  coast 
residents  now  work  in  the  salmon  canneries  or  salteries,  or  pur- 
sue hunting  and  fishing  for  gain.  They  have  a  decided  taste  to 
get  money,  and  some  of  them  are  exceedingly  thrifty.  Princess 
Thom,  one  of  their  great  characters,  was  a  sort  of  Thlinket 
Hetty  Green,  and  literally  had  more  wealth  than  she  knew  what 
to  do  with,  but  still  was  insatiable  for  more. 

Fondness  for  Display. 

Though  the  native  religion  of  the  Thlinkets  was  a  kind  of 
nature  worship,  or  feeble  polytheism,  these  Indians  proved  plastic 
material  in  the  hands  of  the  missionaries,  and  most  of  the  older 
ones  are  now  members  of  the  Russian  Greek  Church.  Their 
great  fondness  for  display  is  well  gratified  by  the  rich  robes  and 
vestments,  the  candles  and  the  pictures  which  enter  so  largely 
into  the  service.  Most  of  them  speak  Russian,  and  they  are  all 
familiar  with  the  trader's  jargon  known  as  "  Chinook."  One  of 
the  results  of  their  religious  training  by  the  Russian  Fathers  has 
been  the  abandonment  of  their  ancient  and  almost  universal 
burial  rite  of  cremation,  the  only  exceptions  to  which  were  the 
Shamans,  or  medicine  men. 

All  the  Thlinkets  are  divided  into  two  clans,  the  Wolf  and  the 
Raven.      A  man    never    marries    into    his    own  clan,   and   the 


ETHNOGRAPHY.  486 

children  are  always  designated  as  of  the  mothers  clan.  Besides 
the  distinction  of  clans  there  are  numerous  tribes  of  Thlinkets. 
The  Chilkats  and  Chilkoots,  who  are  really  one  tribe,  are  the 
great  people  of  the  Thlinkets.  They  have  always  been  great 
•traders  and  have  possessed  more  wealth  than  any  other  tribe. 
They  were  opposed  to  white  trade  with  the  Tinnehs,  and  for  fifty 
years  stood  as  a  barrier  across  the  passage  to  the  Yukon  Basin, 
playing  the  middleman  with  the  Tinnehs  in  the  fur  trade.  The 
white  men  cheated  the  Chilkats,  the  Chilkats  cheated  the 
Tinnehs.  Whom  the  Tinnehs  cheated,  unless  it  was  the  animals 
whose  furs  they  took,  is  not  of  record.  The  Chilkats  were  good 
warriors  as  well  as  thrifty  traders  until  in  1892  the  saloon 
invaded  their  country  and  rum  wrecked  the  once  powerful  tribe. 
They  are  a  more  than  commonly  intellectual  people.  Their 
chief  "  klohkutz  "  drew  for  Professor  Davidson  the  first  known 
map  of  the  famous  Chilkat  and  Chilkoot  passes.  They  long 
knew  the  art  of  forging  copper,  and  they  possess  in  a  high 
degree  the  art  of  dyeing.  Their  elaborate  dance  robes,  made 
from  antelope  wool  and  gayly  colored,  have  a  considerable  com- 
mercial value  as  "Chilkat  blankets."  In  their  weaving  they 
display  a  skill  little  inferior  to  that  which  has  made  the  Navajo 
blanket  famous.  As  wood  carvers,  also,  they  exhibit  no  mean 
skill,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  decorations  of  their  totem  poles  and 
canoes.  Their  folk  lore,  myths  and  traditions  exhibit  a  wonder- 
ful poetic  sense  for  so  primitive  a  people  and,  indeed,  this  is  true 
in  no  less  degree  of  the  Haydas  and  Tsimpseans. 

Dietary  of  the  Chilkats. 

One  of  the  Chilkats'  greatest  delicacies  is  what  is  known  as 
the  salmon  berry,  a  fruit  salmon-red  in  color  and  shaped  like 
blackberries.  This  fruit  has  a  musky  and  at  the  same  time  an 
unpleasant  flavor  for  white  people,  but  the  Chilkats  call  them 


486  ETHNOGRAPHY. 

their  greatest  relish.     They  eat  large  quantities  of  them  in  an  oil, 
the  preparation  of  which,  to  say  the  least,  is  peculiar. 

In  making  this  oil  the  women  gather  up  all  the  salmon  heads 
and  bur>'  them  underneath  the  ground,  where  they  leave  them 
for  several  days,  until  they  become  very  odoriferous  and  "  ripe.". 
Then  they  dig  the  fish  heads  up,  place  them  in  an  old  boat  and 
throw  red-hot  stones  among  them  to  try  out  the  oil.  After  the 
stones  cool  the  Chilkat  women  get  into  the  boat  and  squeeze 
out  the  oil  from  the  fish  heads  by  tramping  and  stamping  upon 
them  with  their  bare  feet.  The  oil  is  then  dipped  up,  and,  being 
poured  over  the  salmon  berries,  makes — to  the  Chilkats — an 
appetizing  dish,  which  they  partake  of  with  great  and  evident 
relish.  It  is  not  likely  that  any  of  the  tenderfeet  journeying  up 
into  the  gold  diggings  of  the  Klondike  will  stop  at  any  Chilkat 
public  houses  on  the  way  for  a  dish  of  salmon  berries  dressed  in 
oil. 

The  Chilkats  reckon  their  wealth  in  blankets,  and  a  wealthy 
man  will  often  accumulate  as  many  as  looo  blankets%  To  add 
to  their  stock  of  blankets  through  life  they  would  undergo  any 
hardship,  in  many  cases  actually  starving  themselves  to  add  to 
their  accumulations. 

Hootzanoos  Make  Hoochinoo. 

The  ordinary  food  eaten  by  the  Chilkats  is  fresh  or  dried 
salmon,  but  when  hungry  they  will  often  consume  large  quanti- 
ties of  lard  and  other  fat.  A  storekeeper  of  Juneau  tells  of  one 
able-bodied  Chilkat  who  came  into  his  store  and  purchased  a 
four  quart  tin  of  hog  lard  and  cotton  seed  oil  combined  and  ate 
every  drop  of  it  before  leaving  the  store. 

The  Hootzanoos  at  Killisnoo  make  an  outright  claim  to  having 
come  from  over  the  sea.  They  first  distilled  "  hoochinoo,"  or 
native  rum,  making  it  in  old  coal  oil  cans  from  a  mash  com- 


ETHNOGRAPHY.  487 

posed  of  molasses  and  yeast.  They  learned  the  trick  from  the 
whites.     They  are  the  giants  of  the  race. 

The  Hoonas,  on  the  icy  strait,  a  warlike  tribe,  have  been  long- 
est preserved  by  environment  from  contact  with  the  whites.  Not 
for  that  reason  but  because  they  deserved  it  they  have  always 
had  a  bad  name.  In  this  respect,  their  brethren,  the  Auks,  are 
like  them,  though  they  are  not  a  quarrelsome  tribe.  They  live 
along  Douglas  Channel. 

The  Sitkans  as  at  present  constituted  contain  many  members 
of  decidedly  mixed  breed,  descended  from  outcasts,  renegades, 
malcontents  and  wanderers.  They  are  the  farthest  from  the 
pure  blood  of  any  of  the  tribes.  Once  the  greatest  term  of 
contempt  in  the  Thlinket  nation  was  :  "As  great  a  blockhead  as 
a  Sitkan."  Not  until  1821  were  they  permitted  by  the  whites 
to  settle  on  the  shore,  and  several  times  after  that  act  of 
clemency  they  repaid  it  by  attacking  the  station.  However, 
they  were  generally  quickly  overcome.  Rum  and  contact  with 
lawless  whites  have  done  much  to  destroy  them.  They  are  the 
best  dressed  and  most  intellectual  of  the  tribes. 

Traits  of  the  Stickines. 

The  Stickines  who  inhabit  the  valley  of  the  Stickine  River, 
near  its  mouth,  are  a  peaceable  tribe  at  present,  though  they 
have  made  trouble  for  the  whites  in  the  past  within  the  latter 
half  of  the  century,  having  captured  a  trading  vessel  and  mur- 
dered the  crew.  They  possess  many  of  the  traits  of  the  other 
Columbian  coast  tribes,  believe  in  the  Thunder  Bird  as  if  to  sug- 
gest a  southern  origin,  and  are  shrewd  traders,  and  hard  drinkers 
and  gamesters  when  they  get  a  chance. 

Kenaians  is  a  name  applied  by  the  Indians  to  the  natives 
inhabiting  the  country  north  of  Copper  River  and  west  of  the 
mountains,  except  the  Esquimos  and  Aleuts.     They  are  generally 


488  ETHNOGRAPHY. 

peaceful  and  well   disposed,  though  ready  to  avenge  affront  or 
wrong.     They  are  good  hunters  and  traders. 

The  Haydas  (Skittagetans)  were  and  are  the  flower  of  the 
native  races.  They  are  taller,  fairer,  and  with  more  regular 
features  than  any  of  the  other  Columbian  coast  tribes,  and 
nearer  to  the  Thlinkets  in  characteristics  than  to  any  other 
people,  but  they  are  aliens  to  the  Thlinkets,  nevertheless,  phy- 
sically and  mentally,  in  speech  and  customs.  The  Thlinkets 
call  them  "  Di-Kinyo,"  the  people  of  the  sea.  They  are  the 
northmen  of  the  Pacific.  Once,  their  forays  extended  as  far 
south  as  Puget  Sound,  and  they  seized  a  schooner  in  Seattle 
Harbor  and  murdered  the  crew. 

Old  Traditions  and    Legends. 

Their  origin  is  the  puzzle  of  ethnologists.  They  have  a  tradi- 
tion of  a  deluge  and  a  sole  surviving  raven  from  which  their 
people  sprung.  Some  identify  them  as  the  descendants  of  the 
Aztecs  whom  Cortez  drove  out  of  Mexico.  Their  legend  of  the 
Thunder  Bird  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  Aztecs  and  the  Zunis. 
They  have  images  and  relics  similar  to  those  found  in  Gaute- 
malan  ruins.  But  they  have  modern  Apache  words  in  their 
speech  and  dances  and  picture  writing  like  the  Zunis.  Their 
resemblance  to  the  Japanese  is  also  very  marked,  and  as  the 
Japanese  current  touches  directly  on  Queen  Charlotte's  shores, 
junks  may  have  been  stranded  there  in  the  days  when  the  Japanese 
built  sea-going  junks  and  traveled  afar.  They  have  Japanese 
words  in  their  speech,  they  sit  at  their  work  and  pull  their  tools 
towards  them  like  the  Japanese.  They  are  imitative,  too,  like  the 
Japanese.  In  many  of  their  customs,  their  bark  weaving  and  their 
carving  they  resemble  the  Maoris  of  New  Zealand  and  the  South 
Sea  Islanders.  They  have  carried  the  totem  pole  to  its  highest 
development.     Their  folk  lore  is  highly  poetical. 


ETHNOGRAPHY.  489 

The  Aleuts,  or  inhabitants  of  the  Aleutian  Islands,  have  been 
so  mixed  with  Russians,  Indian  and  Kamschadale  stock  that  it 
is  difficult  to  find  pure  blooded  men  or  women  in  the  settlements, 
The  predominant  features  among  them  to-day  are  small,  wide- 
set  dark  eyes,  broad  and  high  cheek-bones,  causing  the  jaw, 
which  is  full  and  square  to  often  appear  peaked  ;  coarse,  straight, 
black  hair ;  small  neatly-shaped  feet  and  hands  and  brownish 
yellow  complexion.  In  many  particulars  they  closely  resemble 
the  Esquimo.  Some  few  of  the  half-breeds  are  handsome  physical 
specimens  of  the  human  race.  The  average  stature  of  the  men 
is  five  feet  four  or  five  inches,  though  some  are  over  six  feet. 
They  resemble  the  Konos  of  northern  Japan. 

The  Aleuts,  as  a  people,  have  been  Christians  for  over  a  hun- 
dred years  and  many  of  them  read  and  write.  They  adopted 
the  Christian  faith  with  very  little  opposition,  willingly  exchang- 
ing their  barbarous  customs  and  wild  superstitions  for  the  agree- 
able rites  of  the  Greek  Church  and  its  refined  myths  and 
legends. 

Old  Dwellings  and  New. 

When  first  known  to  the  whites  they  lived  in  large  yourts  or 
"  oolagha-moo,"  dirt  houses,  partly  underground,  going  in  and 
out  with  the  smoke  through  a  hole  in  the  top.  One  of  these 
ancient  yourts,  whose  foundations  were  lately  standing  on  Unalaska 
Island,  was  eighty-seven  yards  long  and  forty  wide.  In  these 
dirt  houses  the  primitive  Aleuts  dwelt  by  fifties  and  hundreds  for 
the  double  purpose  of  protection  and  warmth.  To-day  nearly 
every  Aleutian  family  has  a  hut  or  "  barabkie,"  or  a  neat  frame 
cottage,  the  latter  owing  to  the  Alaska  Commercial  Company  in 
most  instances.  The  "  barabkie,"  though  built  partly  under- 
ground, is  a  vast  improvement  over  the  yourt,  has  a  window  at 
one  end  and  a  door  at  the  other  and  is  embellished  within  with 
pictures  of  the  church  and  patron  saints.     Here  the  Aleut  spends 


490  ETHNOGRAPHY. 

most  of  his  time,  when  not  engaged  in  hunting,  either  drinking 
cup  after  cup  of  boiling  tea  or  stupefying  himself  with  "  quass," 
a  native  beer  or  with  home-distilled  rum. 

The  Aleuts  are  remarkably  polite,  not  only  to  the  whites  but 
to  one  another.  The  women  are  great  gossips,  despite  the  few 
topics  of  conversation  which  they  can  have,  and  they  visit  freely 
and  pleasantly  among  themselves.  It  is  only  when  under  the 
influence  of  liquor  that  they  lose  their  amiability  and  show  some- 
thing of  the  old  savage  nature.  They  used  to  be  great  drunkards, 
but  the  church  is  gradually  weaning  them   from   the   disastrous 

habit. 

Heavy  Burdens  and  Short  Lives. 

As  parents  they  are  extremely  indulgent  while  their  children 
are  under  ten  years  of  age,  but  after  this  time  they  become  strict 
disciplinarians  and  hard  taskmasters,  putting  burdens  upon  young 
shoulders  that  are  heavy  enough  for  adults  and  always  exacting 
implicit  obedience.  The  infant  mortality  is  excessive  as  a  result 
of  the  bad  habits  and  sanitation  of  the  people.  The  race  is 
short-lived,  owing  to  utter  disregard  of  the  laws  of  health. 
They  are  all  more  or  less  tainted  with  scrofula.  They  marr>^ 
young  and  without  the  least  evidence  of  sentimentality.  And 
yet  some  of  the  women  are  decidedly  pretty. 

The  men  are  sea-otter  hunters,  first,  last  and  all  the  time,  ex- 
cept as  necessity  may  force  them  temporarily  to  some  other  occu- 
pation. In  the  chase  they  are  bold  and  skillful  and  they  venture 
far  out  to  sea  in  their  skin  "  bidarkas  "  and  kayaks  with  an  in- 
difference which  forever  secures  them  against  competition  by  the 
whites.  The  sufferings  they  undergo  from  cold  and  scanty  food 
while  in  the  chase  can  be  better  imagined  than  described.  They 
haul  their  boats  out  of  the  water  ever>^  night  and  bivouac  along 
the  coast  in  biting  gales,  in  rain,  sleet  and  fog,  without  covering 
and  almost  invariably  without  a  fire. 


CHAPTER  XX. 
Native  Religion  and  Traits. 

The  Alaskan  Indians  a  People  of  Curious  Customs  and  Habits— Are  Intelli- 
gent, Inventive,  and  Imitative — Are  Adepts  in  the  Vices  of  the  White 
Men  Who  Visit  Them — Are  Natural-born  Drunkards  and  Gamblers — 
Totem  Poles  Their  Pride  in  the  Olden  Times — The  Significance  of  these 
Barbaric  Symbols  of  the  People — Are  Rich  in  Oral  Traditions — The 
Theological  and  Cosmological  Belief  of  the  Indians — Odd  Notions  of 
the  Aboriginal  Thinkers — Samples  of  the  Rites  Practiced — Cannibalism 
and  Shamanism — Law  and  Home  Life — Description  of  the  Innuits  of  the 
North. 

THE  Alaskan  Indians  are  a  unique  people  in  a  strange  set- 
ting. The  visitor  to  the  Territory  will  be  surprised  at  their 
manners,  their  speech,  their  looks  and  their  customs,  and 
above  all,  at  their  intelligence.  The  Hon.  Vincent  Colyer,  once 
Special  Indian  Commissioner  to  Alaska,  said  in  his  report :  "  I 
do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  if  three-fourths  of  the  Alaskan  In- 
dians were  landed  in  New  York,  as  coming  from  Europe,  they 
would  be  selected  as  among  the  most  intelligent  of  the  many 
worthy  immigrants  who  daily  arrive  at  that  point." 

This  may  seem  a  rather  unusual  tribute  to  a  people  whom  we 
are  accustomed  to  regard  as  mere  savages.  The  words  of  Col- 
yer, however,  are  not  unduly  eulogistic.  There  is  a  wide  dis- 
parity among  the  natives,  of  course ;  but,  from  the  extreme 
southern  point  of  Alaska  to  the  Arctic  Ocean,  these  children  of 
the  wilderness  are  characterized  by  a  shrewdness  and  a  cleverness 
that,  despite  the  traces  of  barbarism  to  be  seen,  differentiate  them 
in  a  marked  degree  from  the  other  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  America. 
As  was  said  in  the  chapter  on  ethnology,  it  is  a  grave  ques- 
tion among  scientists  whence  the  natives  came,  opinion  differing  in 
a  very  marked  degree.     Some  contend  that  they  came  from  the 

491 


492  NATIVE    RELIGION    AND   TRAITS. 

central  portion  of  the  continent,  and  others  maintain  that  they  are 
of  MongoHan  origin.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  natives  are  there, 
and  they  will  of  necessity  be  a  curious  study  to  all  the  people 
from  the  Southern  States  who  may  visit  the  Territory.  The 
strangers  in  the  countr)-  will  find  in  the  natives  characteristics  of 
many  races,  and  will  see  unmistakable  indications  of  the  shreds 
of  culture  and  education  which  they  derived  from  the  Russians. 

Natives  First  Teachers. 

The  Russians,  being  the  first  occupants  of  the  land,  naturally 
became  the  first  teachers  of  the  natives.  These  Indians  are  an 
inventive  and  emphatically  an  imitative  people.  In  this  regard 
they  show  a  close  resemblance  to  the  Chinese  and  Japanese. 
The  natural  aptitude  of  the  people  for  following  examples  is  well 
illustrated  by  the  exceptional  skill  they  manifest  in  the  matter  of 
weaving  delicate  fabrics,  making  graceful  canoes  and  carving 
their  totem  poles,  those  symbols  of  savage  life  which  may  be 
found  wherever  a  group  of  Indians  have  settled. 

This  aptitude  for  imitation  is  also  shown  by  the  way  in  which 
the  natives  pick  up  the  vices  of  the  white  settlers  in  the  country' . 
As  might  be  expected,  the  examples  set  them  are  often  not  of 
the  best,  inasmuch  as  the  class  of  people  who  go  to  a  wild  and 
unsettled  country  like  Alaska  are  apt  not  to  be  of  the  highest  stamp. 

The  natives  have  thus  thrust  before  them  very  often  deplorable 
practices  and  vices,  which  they  pick  up  and  follow  as  assiduously 
as  do  their  instructors.  The  road  to  wrong  is  thus  made  smooth 
for  them,  and  it  is  not  strange,  therefore,  if  those  who  now  flock 
to  the  gold  diggings  find  the  savages  adepts  in  many  of  the 
reprehensible  practices  commonly  followed  in  more  civilized  com- 
munities. 

The  Indians,  for  example,  are  ardent  lovers  of  intoxicants. 
The  Russians,  shortly  after  Bering  crossed  the  Pacific  with  his 


NATIVE    RELIGION   AND   TRAITS.  493 

band  of  hardy  adventurers,  learned  to  make  a  cooling  and  com- 
paratively harmless  drink  from  rye  meal  mixed  with  water,  which 
they  put  in  a  cask  and  allowed  to  ferment.  From  this  time  this 
drink  was  their  luxury.  But  it  was  not  a  great  while  before 
native  ingenuity  led  them  to  mix  in  their  beverage  a  little  sugar, 
flour,  dried  apples  and  hops,  and  the  result  was  that  they  had  an 
intoxicating  drink  that  would  put  the  worst  form  of  fire  water  to 
the  blush,  so  far  as  its  effects  were  concerned. 

Receive  a  New  Tutor. 

Then  a  discharged  American  soldier  taught  them  how  to  distil 
liquor,  and  native  ingenuity  again  led  them  to  manufacture  their 
own  stills,  which  they  made  from  kerosene  cans,  with  the  addi- 
tion of  the  hollow  stem  of  the  seaweed.  The  art  of  making  in- 
toxicants they  have  never  forgotten,  and  the  prospector  and 
miner  to-day  will  find  the  natives  filling  themselves  up  with  these 
drinks  and  running  amuck,  in  which  condition  the  crazy  natives 
are  well  fitted  for  any  deeds  of  violence  or  viciousness. 

Again,  the  Indians  are  inveterate  gamblers,  but  whether  they 
learned  this  from  their  white  instructors  is  a  question.  The 
natives  are  as  simple  in  the  games  of  chance  by  which  they 
gamble  away  everything,  from  their  wives  to  their  dinners,  as 
they  are  in  their  domestic  arrangements  and  their  habits. 

The  favorite  game  is  played  with  a  number  of  small  sticks,  which 
are  cut  of  different  sizes  and  colored  different  tints.  These  are 
named  crab,  whale,  duck,  otter,  fox  and  the  like.  They  are 
shuffled  up  and  then  placed  under  bunches  of  moss,  and  the 
game  consists  in  guessing  under  what  pile  of  moss  the  whale, 
or  duck  or  what  not  may  be.  This,  it  will  be  seen,  is  literally 
a  children's  game,  yet  it  is  for  the  natives  a  serious  rhatter, 
for  very  often  on  a  guess  a  savage  will  lose  home,  possessions, 
everything. 


494  NATIVE   RELIGION  AND   TRAITS. 

The  natives  of  Alaska  fall  into  various  families,  but  for  the 
purpose  of  setting  forth  their  most  striking  customs  and  character- 
istics, they  maybe  divided  into  two  great  divisions,  the  Thlinkets, 
or  people  of  Southern  Alaska,  and  the  Innuits,  or  people  who 
Hve  in  the  extreme  northern  regions.  The  Innuits,  by  the  way, 
are  not  infrequently  called  Esquimaux.  The  minor  divisions  oj 
each  of  these  great  classes  present  few  differences.  There  is, 
however,  a  very  sharp  contrast  between  the  two  great  classes 

themselves. 

Forests  of  Totem  Poles. 

Wherever  one  finds  a  Thlinket  settlement,  he  will  find  9 
forest  of  totem  poles.  The  significance  of  these  poles  has  often 
been  made  a  matter  of  question,  but  it  is  commonly  believed 
now  that  the  poles  have  no  religious  significance,  and  are  not 
objects  of  idolatrous  worship.  They  are  rather  to  be  considered 
as  a  sort  of  heraldic  designs,  distinguishing  families,  very  much 
in  the  same  way  that  the  herandic  devices  of  the  nobility  ot 
Europe  distinguish  families. 

Totemism  becomes  thus,  the  base  of  the  natives  social  organ 
ization,  and  the  totem  pole  becomes  nothing  more  or  less  than 
a  tribal  mark   distinguishing  the   dwellings  and  belongings   of 
separate  families  or  clans. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  only  animal  totems  occur.  The  na- 
tives thus  practically  live  under  the  guardianship  of  some  one  or 
other  of  the  wild  beasts  or  the  birds  or  the  fishes  that  abound 
in  the  Territory.  The  crow  or  raven  represents  woman,  the 
creative  principal.  The  wolf  represents  the  aggressive  or  fight- 
ing creature.  These  two  forms  of  totem  are  the  most  prevalent 
along  the  coast. 

That  these  totem  poles  are  simply  a  family  designation,  as 
was  said  above,  is  borne  out  by  the. fact  that  men  do  not  marry 
women  of  their  own  totem.     The  Thlinkets  were  not  slow  in 


NATIVE    RELIGION  AND    TRAirS.  495 

making  totem  poles  representative  of  the  two  great  nations  with 
which  they  had  most  to  do,  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States. 
They  fashioned  one  totem  with  a  unicorn,  and  it  stood  for 
"  King  George  men  ;  "  and  they  made  another  with  a  spread 
eagle,  and  had  that  designate  the  "  Boston  men,"  an  ingenuous 
tribute,  perhaps,  to  Boston  as  the  hub  of  the  universe. 

Some  Indian  families  thus  live  under  the  special  protection  of 
the  bear,  the  whale,  the  frog,  the  wolf;  and  it  is  an  easy  matter 
to  recognize  the  family  by  the  rude  conventionalized  carvings  to 
be  found  before  their  doors.  Some  of  these  poles  are  very 
elaborately  carved  from  top  to  bottom,  often  reaching  fifty  or 
sixty  feet  in  height  and  being  three  or  four  feet  in  diameter. 

Rich  Oral   Mythology. 

Centreing  largely  about  these  poles,  the  natives  have  an  oral 
mythology,  which  is  often  of  the  most  fabulous  character.  These 
legends  are  religiously  handed  down  from  father  to  son  and  are 
rehearsed  to  the  visitors  with  all  the  semblance  of  conviction  on 
the  part  of  the  narrators.  Li!cc  many  other  things  characteristic 
of  the  Indian's  life  and  belief,  these  totem  poles  are  largely 
becoming  relics  of  the  past  and  symbols  merely  of  what  used 
to  be.  This  is  due  partly  to  the  work  of  the  missionaries  and 
partly  to  the  natives'  intercourse  in  a  commercial  way  with  the 
white  man. 

In  the  early  days  the  Indians  were  devout  believers  in  witch- 
craft, evil  spirits,  and  all  that  sort  of  superstitious  invention,  and 
many  were  the  horrors  that  they  committed  in  obedience  to  this 
form  of  religious  belief.  Out  of  this  grew  various  kinds  of  tor- 
ture, and  not  infrequently,  the  poor  savages  would  die  under  the 
efforts  of  their  friends  to  remove  them  from  the  influence  of 
imaginary  demons. 

Dr.  Dall,  one  of  the  closest  students  of  the  Alaskan   Indians, 


496  NATIVE   RELIGION   AND   TRAITS. 

gives  a  very  good  account  of  the  religious  beliefs  of  the  Thlin- 
kets.     Says  he  : 

"  Their  religion  is  a  feeble  polytheism,  Yehl  is  the  maker  of 
wood  and  waters,  he  put  the  sun,  moon  and  stars  in  their  places. 
He  lives  in  the  East,  near  the  head-waters  of  the  Maas  River. 
He  makes  himself  known  in  the  east  wind,  Ssankheth,  and  his 
abode  in  Nasshak-Yehl. 

Men  Groped  in  Darkness. 

"  There  was  a  time  when  men  groped  in  the  dark  in  search  of 
the  world.  At  that  time  a  Thlinket  lived  who  had  a  wife  and 
sister.  He  loved  the  former  so  much  that  he  did  not  permit  her 
to  work.  Eight  little  red  birds,  called  kun,  were  always  around 
her.  One  day  she  spoke  to  a  stranger.  The  little  birds  flew 
and  told  the  jealous  husband,  who  prepared  to  make  a  box  to 
shut  his  wife  up.  He  killed  all  his  sister's  children  because  they 
looked  at  his  wife. 

"  Weeping,  the  mother  went  to  the  seashore.  A  whale  saw 
her  and  asked  the  cause  of  her  grief,  and  when  informed,  told 
her  to  swallow  a  small  stone  from  the  beach  and  drink  some  sea 
water.  In  eight  months  she  had  a  child,  whom  she  hid  from 
her  brother.     This  son  was  Yehl. 

"At  that  time  the  sun,  moon  and  stars,  were  kept  by  a  rich 
chief  in  separate  boxes,  which  he  allowed  no  one  to  touch.  Yehl, 
by  strategy,  secured  and  opened  these  boxes,  so  that  the  moon 
and  stars  shone  in  the  sky.  When  the  sun  box  was  opened,  the 
people,  astonished  at  the  unwonted  glare,  ran  off  into  the  moun- 
tains, woods  and  even  into  the  water,  becoming  animals  or  fish. 
He  also  provided  fire  and  water.  Having  arranged  everything 
for  the  comfort  of  the  Thlinkets,  he  disappeared  where  neither 
.nan  or  spirit  can  penetrate. 

"  There  are  an  immense  number  of  minor  spirits  called  Yekh. 


NATIVE    RELIGION   AND   TRAITS.  41>7 

Each  Shaman  has  his  own  familiar  spirits  to  do  his  bidding,  and 
others  on  whom  he  may  call  in  certain  emergencies.  These 
spirits  are  divided  into  three  classes — Khiyekh,  the  upper  ones  ; 
Takhi-Yekh,  land  spirits  ;  and  Tckih-Yekh,  sea  spirits.  The  first 
are  the  spirits  of  the  brave  killed  in  war,  and  dwell  in  the  North. 
Hence  a  great  display  of  Northern  Lights  is  looked  upon  as  an 
omen  of  war. 

Responsibility  of  Mourners. 

"  The  second  and  third  are  the  spirits  of  those  who  died  in  the 
common  way,  and  who  dwell  in  Takhan-Khov.  The  ease  with 
which  these  latter  reach  their  appointed  place  is  dependent  on 
the  conduct  of  their  relations  in  mourning  for  them.  In  addition 
to  these  spirits,  every  one  has  his  Yekh,  who  is  always  with  him, 
except  in  cases  when  the  man  becomes  exceedingly  bad,  when 
the  Yekh  leaves  him. 

"  These  spirits  only  permit  themselves  to  be  conjured  by  the 
sound  of  a  drum  or  rattle.  The  last  is  usually  made  in  the 
shape  of  a  bird,  hollow,  and  filled  with  small  stones.  These  are 
used  at  all  festivities  and  whenever  the  spirits  are  wanted." 

As  might  be  expected  from  this  form  of  religious  belief,  a  large 
share  of  the  attention  of  the  worshippers  is  given  to  propitiating 
evil  spirits,  and  the  religion  of  the  natives  of  southern  Alaska 
thus  practically  resolves  itself  into  a  form  of  devil  worship. 
This,  doubtless,  is  the  origin  of  Shamanism,  which  really  consists 
in  making  offerings  to  evil  spirits  in  order  to  prevent  them  from 
doing  mischief  to  the  people. 

The  religion  of  the  Indians,  therefore,  has  a  certain  similarity 
to  that  of  the  old  Tartar  race  before  the  gospel  of  Buddha  was 
introduced.  Indeed^  forms  of  belief,  very  similar  to  those  just 
given  above,  may  still  be  found  among  some  of  the  peoples  in 
Siberia. 

The  one  whose  duty  it  is  particularly  to  propitiate  the  evil 
32 


498  NATIVE    RELIGION   AND    TRAITS. 

spirits  is  the  great  medicine  man,  or  sorcerer,  or  Shaman  of  the 
tribe.  He,  it  is  supposed,  has  control  not  only  of  the  spirits,  but, 
through  the  spirits,  of  diseases,  and  of  the  elements.  Dr.  Dall 
points  out  the  fact  that  the  honor  and  respect  in  which  a  Shaman 
is  held  depends  upon  the  number  of  spirits  supposed  to  be  under 
his  control.  It  is  curious  to  note  that  whale's  blubber,  one  of 
the  greatest  delicacies  among  the  Indians  of  the  North,  was  put 
under  ban  by  a  Shaman.  To  this  day  it  is  regarded  with  abhor- 
ence  by  the  Thlinkets  in  the  South. 

It  can  readily  be  seen  that  the  Shaman  is  virtually  a  ruler 
among  his  people  and  that  by  prostitution  of  his  power  he  can 
make  himself  a  terror.  Bancroft,  in  his  "  Native  Races  on  the 
Pacific  Coast,"  thus  speaks  of  Shamanism  : 

"  Thick,  black  clouds,  portents  of  evil,  hang  threateningly 
over  the  savage  during  his  entire  life.  Genii  murmur  in  the 
flowing  river.  In  the  rustling  branches  of- the  trees  are  heard 
the  breathing  of  the  gods.  Goblins  dance  in  the  vaporing 
twilight,  and  demons  howl  in  the  darkness.  All  these  beings 
are  hostile  to  man  and  must  be  propitiated  by  gifts  and  prayers 
and  sacrifices,  and  the  religious  worship  of  some  of  the  tribes 
includes  practices  which  are  frightful  in  their  atrocity.  Here, 
for  example,  is  a  right  of  sorcery  as  practised  among  the 
Haidahs,  one  of  the  northern  nations. 

Sample  Religious  Rite. 

"  When  the  salmon  season  is  over  and  the  provisions  of  winter 
have  been  stored  away,  feasting  and  conjuring  begin.  The 
chief,  who  seems  to  be  the  principal  sorcerer,  and  indeed  to 
possess  little  authority  save  for  his  connection  with  the  preter- 
human powers,  goes*  off  to  the  loneliest  and  wildest  retreat  he 
knows  of  or  can  discover  in  the  mountains  or  forest,  and  half 
starves  himself  there  for  some  weeks,  till  he  is  worked  up  to  a 


NATIVE    RELIGION   AND    TRAITS.  499 

frenzy  of  religious  insanity At  last  the  inspired  demoniac 

returns  to  his  village  naked,  save  a  bearskin  or  a  ragged  blanket, 
with  a  chaplet  on  his  head  and  a  red  band  of  alder  bark  about 
his  neck. 

"  He  springs  on  the  first  person  he  meets,  bites  out  and 
swallows  one  or  more  mouthfuls  of  the  man's  living  flesh, 
wherever  he  can  fix  his  teeth,  then  rushes  to  another  and 
another,  repeating  his  revolting  meal  till  he  falls  into  a  torpor 
from  his  sudden  and  half  masticated  surfeit  of  flesh.  For  some 
days  after  this  he  lies  in  a  kind  of  coma,  like  an  '  overgorged 
beast  of  prey,'  as  Dunn  says ;  the  same  observing  that  '  his  breath 
during  that  time  is  like  an  exhalation  from  the  grave.'  The 
victims  of  this  ferocity  dare  not  resist  the  bite  of  the  Taamish  ; 
on  the  contrary  they  are  sometimes  willing  to  offer  themselves 
for  the  ordeal,  and  are  always  proud  of  their  scars." 

The  Indians  are  thus  held  in  abject  fear  of  the  Shamans,  and 
it  is  possibly  due  to  this  fact  that  the  missionaries  of  the  Christian 
church  were  so  cordially  welcomed  and  their  ministrations  and 
teachings  so  gratefully  received.  In  a  large  measure  these  old 
beliefs  of  the  natives  are  passing  away. 

Witchcraft   Still   Exists. 

Still,  Miner  W.  Bruce  assures  us  that  despite  the  efforts  of 
missionaries  and  teachers,  and  the  influence  of  civilization, 
witchcraft  is  believed  in  still  to  a  greater  or  less  extent.  Evil 
spirits,  he  says,  are  still  believed  to  take  possession  of  the  old, 
the  decrepit  and  the  deformed,  and  sometimes  also  of  the  young. 
These  supposed  unfortunates  then  have  to  be  exorcised,  and  it 
becomes  a  matter  of  duty  on  the  part  of  the  Shamans  to  dis- 
possess them  of  their  tormentors. 

One  of  the  curious  things  that  will  be  noticed  by  the  traveled 
in  Alaska,   is   the   natives'   method    of    disposing   of   the    dead 


500  NATIVE   RELIGION  AND   TRAITS. 

Many  years  ago  cremation  was  generally  practiced  along  the 
whole  coast.  This,  however,  has  fallen  into  abeyance,  except 
among  those  tribes  who  have  not  yet  been  visited  by  missionary 
influences.  Wherever  the  influence  of  the  Christian  church  has 
been  felt  the  natives  have  adopted  a  modified  form  of  disposal 
of  the  dead,  based  on  our  common  custom. 

The  dead  are  usually  placed  in  boxes,  but  as  these  boxes  are 
not  long  enough  to  permit  the  whole  body  to  recHne  at  full 
length,  the  joints  are  severed  so  that  the  corpse  may  be  placed 
in  a  sitting  posture.  Then  the  box  is  put  away  in  some  more  or 
less  remote  place  and  usually  kept  above  ground.  There  is  a 
little  bit  of  sentiment  attached  to  the  practice  of  the  savages  of 
placing  their  dead  on  some  high  point  so  that  the  departed  spirit 
can  look  out  upon  the  plains  and  valleys  which  were  his  former 
haunts. 

Often,  also,  some  of  the  personal  effects  of  the  deceased  are 
placed  beside  him  in  the  box.  The  Shamans,  or  medicine  men, 
it  must  be  remembered,  are  never  cremated.  Their  bodies  lie  in 
state  for  four  days,  one  day  in  each  comer  of  the  building.  Then 
the  corpse  is  conveyed  to  the  dead  house,  placed  in  an  upright 
position,  and  surrounded  with  all  th£  blankets  and  paraphernalia 
that  the  Indian's  idea  of  comfort  suggests  as  necessar)'  for  the 
spirit  land.  It  is  a  common  practice  of  the  people  to  dispose  of 
the  bodies  of  witches  and  slaves  with  the  greatest  secrecy. 

Cannibalism   was    Prevalent. 

It  should  be  mentioned  here  that  directly  connected  with  and 
growing  out  of  Shamanism  is  one  of  the  most  horrible  of  cus- 
toms or  practices,  namely,  cannibaHsm.  This  was  commonly 
practiced  by  the  whole  people  on  the  death  of  the  chief,  and  the 
members  of  the  tribe  would  enter  with  zest  upon  their  horrid 
repast.     Frequently,  too,  on  the  death  of  a  chief  a  number  of 


NATIVE   RELIGION  AND   TRAITS.  501 

slaves  were  sacrificed  that  they  might  accompany  their  lord  to 
the  hereafter.  The  bodies  of  these  slaves,  it  is  supposed,  were 
cooked  and  eaten. 

Within  the  days  of  the  American  occupation  of  the  land, 
medicine  men  have  been  known  to  devour  portions  of  corpses 
under  the  belief  that  they  would  thus  acquire  control  of  the 
spirit  and  gain  influence  over  demons.  Happily,  however,  these 
enormities  are  growing  fewer  and  fewer,  and  it  is  not  improbable 
that  at  an  early  day,  under  the  influence  of  Christian  teaching, 
the  superstitious  rites  and  abominable  practices  of  the  savages 
will  entirely  disappear. 

War  dances  and  religious  dances  are  also  features  of  the  In- 
dian's life.  Dr.  Sheldon  Jac]<son  describes  one  he  witnessed  at 
Fort  Wrangel  in  1879.     Says  he  : 

"One  afternoon  we  were  invited  to  the  house  of  Toy-a-att,  a 
leading  chief  and  Christian,  to  witness  a  representation  of  some 
of  their  national  customs.  When  everything  was  prepared, 
dressed  in  a  hunting  shirt,  with  face  blackened  and  spear  in  hand, 
Toy-a-att  appeared  in  the  war  dance.  Retiring  amid  much  ap- 
plause, he  reappeared  in  the  form  of  a  wolf  and  with  mask,  roll- 
ing eyes  and  snapping  teeth,  gave  the  dance  of  the  invocation  of 
the  spirits  for  successful  hunting. 

"  Then  he  put  on  a  horrible  mask  to  represent  the  devil,  and 
with  hideous  rattles,  gave  the  devil  or  Tamanamus  dance.  Then 
with  dress  and  mask  and  large  hat,  with  tinkling  bells  on  the  rim, 
and  eider-down  in  the  crown,  which  down  he  showered  around  the 
room  as  blessings  upon  his  guests,  and  rattles  in  his  hands,  he 
gave  us  the  religious  dance  of  the  Shamans,  or  medicine  men. 
After  the  series  of  national  dances,  he  came  out  and  made  a 
speech,  apologizing  for  the  feebleness  of  his  representations." 

A  word  more  specifically  about  the  Shamans.  When  they  are 
ill  their  relatives   are  expected  to  fast  in  order  to  promote  his 


502  NATIVE   RELIGION  AND   TRAITS. 

recover)\  Their  commands  are  absolute  law,  •  Every  Shaman 
has  any  amount  of  paraphernalia,  which  includes  a  large  assort- 
ment of  masks — one  for  every  spirit  or  demon  over  which  he 
is  supposed  to  have  any  power.  The  Shaman's  hair  is  never  cut. 
As  was  said  above,  on  death  his  body  is  never  burned  or  buried, 
but  is  put  in  a  wooden  box  on  four  high  posts. 

Attending  the  funeral  are  certain  performances,  which  begin  at 
sunset  and  last  till  sunrise.  Those  who  participate  assemble  in 
the  Shaman's  lodge  and  unite  in  a  song,  to  which  time  is  beaten 
on  a  drum.  Then  follows  a  form  of  religious  dance,  which  in  a 
measure  includes  or  suggests  all  the  ceremonies  known  to  the 
art  of  Shamanism. 

By  these  ceremonies,  it  is  believed,  the  different  spirits  repre- 
sented by  the  Shaman's  various  masks  are  all  for  the  moment 
inspired. 

Turning  from  these  weird  rites  and  superstitious  beliefs,  it  is  a 
pleasure  to  note  that  very  many  of  the  natives  are  clever  arti- 
sans, if  not  artists.  Their  totem  poles,  as  has  been  said,  are  often 
very  skilfully  carved.  Arrow  heads,  spear  heads,  and  silver  and 
copper  ornament  likewise  go  to  show  that  the  natives  are  not 
destitute  of  artistic  taste.  The  baskets  of  the  Indians  are  also  of 
ingenious  design  and  coloring.  These  are  made  from  grasses 
and  roots. 

The  women  do  the  weaving,  and  often  the  blankets  they  make 
are  very  beautiful  in  design  and  workmanship.  The  women  sit 
day  after  day  at  their  rude  hand  looms,  and  not  infrequently  it 
takes  six  months  for  an  industrious  workwoman  to  make  a 
single  blanket.  The  visitor  to  Alaska,  however,  is  very  apt  to 
be  imposed  upon,  as  a  large  percentage  of  the  blankets  that  are 
offered  for  sale,  and  said  to  be  of  genuine  Indian  make,  are 
spurious.  The  real  article,  Mr.  Bruce  says,  is  now  becoming 
very  scarce. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 
Spread  of  the  Christian  Faith. 

Empress  Catherine  Takes  the  Initiative  in  Bringing  a  Purer  Religion  to  the 
Savages — Work  of  the  Early  Russian  Missionaries  and  the  Progress  of 
Their  Work— Schools  Early  Established — Introduction  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  Due  to  the  Efforts  of  Commercial  Bodies  to  Provide  for  Their 
Employes — Sad  Result  of  the  Transfer  of  the  Territory  to  the  United 
States — Deed  Interest  Shown  By  the  Natives— Some  Striking  Literature 
from  the  Wilds — Methodists  Follow  the  Presbyterians  in  Their  Missions 
— Great  Hope  for  the  Future. 

THE  cross  has  been  planted  in  the  wilds  of  Alaska  for  over 
a  centuiy  ;  and,  strange  to  say,  the  Empress  Catherine  of 
Russia  personally  took  the    steps    necessary  to  carry  a 
purer  religion  into  the  barbaric  rites  and  superstitious  practices 
of  the  savages. 

It  was  on  June  30,  1793,  that  Catherine  issued  an  Imperial 
order  that  missionaries  should  be  sent  to  her  American  colonies. 
That  order  was  obeyed  immediately,  as  autocratic  mandates  are, 
and  eleven  monks  set  sail  as  soon  as  their  equipment  could  be 
provided  from  Ochotsk  for  Kadiak  Island. 

This  little  band  of  Christian  workers  was  in  charge  of  Archi- 
mandrite Joasaph,  elder  in  the  order  of  Augustin  friars.  In 
1796  Joasaph  was  made  bishop  and  returned  to  Russia  to 
receive  consecration.  That  year  was  signalized  by  the  erection 
of  the  first  church  in  Alaska. 

The  newly-consecrated  bishop  and  the  missionaries  coming 
with  him  were  shipwrecked  and  lost  on  the  return  trip  in  1799. 
All  save  one.  This  solitary  monk  remained  alone  in  the  Rus- 
sian colonies  for  eleven  years  before  another  soul  was  sent 
to  assist  him  in  his  work.  Then,  in  1822,  three  more  priests 
were  sent,  who  reached  the  colonies  safely. 

603 


504  SPREAD   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   FAITH. 

The  one  man,  however,  of  all  others,  who  did  most  to  spread 
Christianity  in  Alaska  during  the  days  of  the  Russian  occupa- 
tion was  Innocentius  Veniaminoff.  He  began  his  labors  at 
Unalaska  in  1823.  For  seventeen  years  he  worked  as  an  ordi- 
nary priest,  and  then  he  was  made  bishop.  Step  by  step  he 
advanced  from  one  position  to  another  until  he  became  Metro- 
polite  of  Moscow,  which  is  the  highest  position  in  the  Greek 
Church.  He  died  in  the  spring  of  1879,  and,  it  is  safe  to  say, 
was  sincerely  mourned,  not 'merely  by  his  countrymen,  but  by 
the  savages,  among  whom  he  had  worked  in  Alaska,  and  to 
whom  he  had  brought  the  blessings  of  civilized  life. 

What  is  more,  he  was  the  one  Russian  priest  sent  to  Alaska 
who  left  an  untarnished  name  in  that  country,  and  who  evinced 
anything  like  the  true  missionary  spirit.  As  a  result  of  his  exer- 
tions, the  Russian  Church  at  one  time  had  seven  missionary  dis- 
tricts in  Alaska,  with  eleven  priests  and  sixteen  deacons.  In  the 
year  1869  the  Russian  Church  in  Alaska  claimed  a  membership 

of  12,140. 

Helped  by  Fur  Company. 

It  is  one  of  the  bright  spots  on  the  records  of  the  Russian 
Fur  Company  that  it  contributed  annually  $6600  to  the  support 
of  the  missions.  The  sum  of  $2313  was  annually  received  from 
the  iMission  Fund  of  the  Holy  Synod,  and  $1100  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  work  was  received  from  the  sale  of  candles  in  the 
church.     The  balance  came  from  private  individuals. 

There  was  no  opportunity  for  ostentation  and  display,  and 
consequently  the  church  work  was  conducted  as  economically 
as  efficiently.  The  result  was  that  in  i860  the  church  had  a 
balance  or  surplus  of  $37,000,  which  was  loaned  out  at  five  per 
cent,  interest. 

In  evidence  of  the  practical  side  of  this  early  missionary  work 
one    may  point  out  the   fact  that  a  school  system  was  soon 


SPREAD   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   FAITH.  50o 

developed  in  the  wilderness.  The  first  school  was  established 
by  Shelikoff  on  the  Island  of  Kadiak.  Three  things  alone  were 
taught — language,  arithmetic  and  religion.  This  was  about  the 
year  1792,  and  it  was  not  a  great  many  years  thereafter  that  a 
similar  school  was  established  at  Sitka.  In  1841  an  ecclesiastical 
school  was  opened  in  Sitka,  and  in  1 845  this  was  made  a  regular 
seminary. 

Object  of  the  Schools. 

Established  as  they  were,  under  religious  auspices,  these 
schools  were  all  of  a  parochial  nature  and  their  main  object 
was  to  further  the  spread  of  the  Greek  Church.  In  1 860  we  find 
a  colonial  school  opened,  with  twelve  students,  which  two  years 
later  had  gained  twenty-seven  students. 

Even  in  those  far  off  districts  and  virtually  among  savages  it 
is  pleasing  to  find  the  first  steps  taken  in  a  movement  which  has 
only  of  recent  years  become  popular  in  civilized  communities, 
namely,  the  education  of  women.  In  1839  a  girls'  school  was 
established  in  the  wild  regions  of  Alaska,  which,  in  a  certain 
sense,  was  also  an  orphans'  home.  It  was  patronized  largely 
by  children  of  the  employes  of  the  Fur  Company. 

Separate  schools  for  the  natives  were  also  established,  one 
being  opened  in  1825  on  Unalaska  Island.  A  similar  school  at 
Amlia  Island  had  thirty  in  i860.  As  far  north  as  the  lower 
Yukon,  school-houses  were  also  built. 

The  suspension  of  all  these  schools  followed  almost  immedi- 
ately upon  the  occupation  of  the  country  by  the  United  States 
Government. 

During  the  Russian  domination  the  Russian-American  Fur 
Company  employed  many  Swedes,  Finlanders  and  Germans, 
and  to  this  fact  is  due  the  introduction  of  the  Lutheran  faith  in 
Alaska.  A  church  was  built  in  Sitka  in  1845,  which  was  still 
running  in  1852  under  the  charge  of  the  first  Lutheran  minister 


506  SPREAD    OF   THE    CHRISTIAN   FAITH. 

sent  to  Sitka  to  provide  for  the  population  indicated.  He  was 
succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wintec,  who  preached  in  the  Swed- 
ish and  German  languages.  Mr.  Wintec  remained  until  1867, 
when  the  Russian  Government  withdrew  his  support,  and  he 
returned  to  Europe. 

During  the  life  of  this  early  Lutheran  Church,  however,  the 
work  was  done  as  carefully  and  as  economically  as  by  the 
Greek  Church,  and  the  denomination  soon  accumulated  many 
thousand  dollars  in  church  property.  It  should  be  observed 
that  the  Protestant  Churches  of  Russia,  while  allowed  no  self- 
governing  and  self-sustaining  organizations,  are  still  recognized 
under  the  Ministerium  of  Public  Instruction.  Provision  is  made 
for  their  support,  which  comes  direct  from  the  public  treasury. 

Decline  of  Church  Work. 

It  seems  that  when,  in  1867,  the  great  Territory  of  Alaska 
became  part  of  the  dominion  of  the  United  States  it  was  to  fall 
away  from  God's  providence.  At  least,  for  many  years  nothing 
was  done  either  to  preserve  or  extend  the  work  that  had  already 
been  done.  This  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  when  the  purchase 
was  made  by  Secretary  Seward  the  matter  of  evangelizing  the 
savages  was  discussed  by  almost  every  church  organization 
throughout  the  country.     Says  the  Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson  : 

"  It  was  expected  that  the  churches  of  the  United  States,  with 
their  purer  religion  and  greater  consecration,  would  send  in  more 
efficient  agencies  than  Russia  had  done.  But  ten  years  rolled 
around  and  the  churches  did  nothing.  Ten  years  passed  and 
hundreds  of  immortal  souls,  who  had  never  so  much  as  heard 
that  there  was  a  Savior,  were  hurried  to  judgment  from  a 
Christian  land.  Ten  years  came  and  went  and  thousands  were 
left  to  grow  up  in  ignorance  and  superstition,  and  form  habits  • 
that  will  keep  them  away  from  the  Gospel,  if  it  is  ever  offered  them." 


SPREAD   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   FAITH.  507 

The  Indians  themselves,  however,  had  experienced  something 
of  the  blessings  which  the  Greek  Church  had  brought  them  and 
noticed  with  regret  that  their  brethren  in  the  districts  where 
formerly  the  Russian  priests  ministered  were  retrograding. 

So,  in  the  spring  of  1876,  Clah,  Su-gah-na-te,  Ta-lik,  John 
Ryan,  Lewis  Ween,  Andrew  Moss,  Peter  Pollard,  George  Pem- 
berton  and  James  Ross,  all  Tsimpsean  Indians,  went  from  Fort 
Simpson  to  Fort  Wrangel  to  obtain  work.  Here  they  secured  a 
contract  to  cut  wood  for  the  government,  and  here  on  the  Sab- 
bath it  was  their  practice  to  meet  together  for  worship,  as  in  the 
old  days  before  Alaska  became  a  portion  of  the  United  States. 

This  little  band  of  devoted  Indians  is  responsible  for  the 
re-birth  of  Christianity  in  the  Territory.  Its  members  found  a 
warm  friend  and  protector  in  Captain  S.  P.  Jocelyn,  of  the 
United  States  Infantry,  who  was  then  in  command  at  that  station. 
He  took  a  hand  in  the  movement,  secured  a  room  for  worship 
on  the  Sabbath,  and  helped  the  Indians  in  every  possible  way. 

All  this  in  face  of  the  futile  efforts  being  made  in  the  United 
States.  It  may  be  interesting  to  note  some  of  the  projects  in 
the  old  settled  States  that  came  to  naught. 

Some  Apathetic  Projects. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Saunders,  of  the  Board  *of  Domestic  Missions 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  offered  a  resolution  soon  after  the 
purchase  of  the  Territory  that  a  band  of  missionaries  be  sent  by 
the  church  to  Alaska.  A  similar  proposition  was  made  to  the 
Committee  on  Home  Missions  of  the  same  church.  From  1 869 
to  1877  the  Rev.  George  H.  Atkinson  repeatedly  agitated  the 
question  of  sending  missionaries  to  the  Territory. 

These  efforts  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  were  backed  up  by 
Major-General  O.  O.  Howard,  of  the  United  States  Army,  and 
the   Hon.  Vincent   Colyer,   Secretary  of  the    Board   of   Indian 


508 


SPREAD    OF   THE    CHRISTIAN    FAITH. 


Commissioners.  This  last  friend  of  the  Indians  even  succeeded 
in  getting  Congress  to  appropriate  ;^ 50,000  for  educational  pur- 
poses in  the  Territory,  but  no  one  was  found  willing  to  go  to  the 
wilds  of  the  North  and  administer  the  fund,  and  so  it  was  not  used. 
In  1875  and  1876,  however,  the  Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson,  accom- 
panied by   Mrs.  A.  R.  McFarland,  went  to   the   Territory  and 


MISSIONARY    AMONG    THE    ALASKA    INDIANS. 

renewed  the  work  for  the  Presbyterian  denomination.  The 
missionaries  met  at  various  houses,  in  vacant  stores,  and  even  in 
the  huts  of  the  natives,  and  held  religious  services,  and  especially 
lent  their  aid  in  support  of  the  little  band  of  Indians  mentioned 
above,  and  in  1879  there  was  such  interest  in  Christian  work  in 
the  districts  they  visited  that  services  of  a  revival  nature  were 
frequently  held  and  were  largely  attended  by  the  Indians. 

It  is  curious  to  notice  how  quickly  and  sincerely  the  savages 


SPREAD   OF   THE    CHRISTIAN    FAITH.  009 

took  to  the  new  life  and  its  literature.  Dr.  Jackson  gives  a  list 
of  some  inscriptions  he  copied  from  an  Indian  cemetery,  where 
once  were  found,  as  indications  of  religious  belief,  nothing  but 
the  totem  poles  of  the  savages.  Among  these  inscriptions  were 
the  following : 

"  His  end  was  peace."  "  There  is  hope  in  his  death."  "Jesus 
pity  me."  "  Take  my  hand  and  lead  me  to  the  Father."  "  I  have 
been  poor  in  the  world  and  wicked,  but  all  is  over  now."  "Take 
me  home  to  God."  "Said  to  his  father,  trust  in  God."  "He 
departed  trusting  in  Jesus."  "  Of  such  is  the  kingdom  of 
Heaven."  "  His  last  act  was  to  sing  a  hymn  and  offer  a  prayer 
to  God." 

Still  more  interesting  and  significant  is  the  following  creed  or 
statement  of  belief,  or  religious  compact,  which  the  Indians  drew 
up  and  signed  : 

1.  "  We  concur  in  the  action  of  Mr.  I.  C.  Dennis,  Deputy  Col- 
lector of  the  United  States  Custom  House,  appointing  Toy-a-att, 
Moses,  Matthew  and  Sam  to  search  all  canoes  and  stop  the  traffic 
of  liquor  among  the  Indians. 

2.  "  We,  who  profess  to  be  Christians,  promise  with  God's 
help  to  strive  as  much  as  possible  to  live  at  peace  with  each 
other,  to  have  no  fighting,  no  quarreling,  no  tale-bearing  among  us. 
These  things  are  all  sinful  and  should  not  exist  among  Christians, 

3.  "  Any  troubles  that  may  arise  among  the  brethren,  between 
husbands  and  wives,  or  if  any  man  leaves  his  wife,  these  brethren, 
Toy-a-att,  Moses,  Matthew,  Aaron  and  Lot,  have  authority  to 
settle  the  troubles  and  decide  what  the  punishment  shall  be,  and 
if  fines  are  imposed,  how  much  the  fines  shall  be. 

4.  "  The  authority  of  these  brethren  is  binding  upon  all,  and 
no  person  is  to  resist  or  interfere  with  them,  as  they  are  ap- 
pointed by  Mr.  Dennis  and  Mrs.  McFarland. 

5.  "  To  all  the  above  we  subscribe  our  names." 


510  SPREAD   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   FAITH. 

These  little  incidents  show  that  the  natives  were  ripe  for  good 
Christian  work,  and  those  who  had  the  courage  to  brave  the 
dangers  and  hardships  of  the  North  in  the  interests  of  the 
church  sent  home  the  most  favorable  reports  as  to  their  reception 
and  the  most  heartfelt  regrets  that  the  great  Christian  church  of 
the  United  States  should  be  so  dilatory  and  apathetic  in  its  mis- 
sion work  in  the  Territory. 

And  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  these  children  of  Nature 
were  slow  of  understanding  or  lacking  in  natural  gifts.  We 
quote,  as  an  example  of  Indian  eloquence  and  Indian  earnestness, 
the  following,  which  was  reported  in  the  Port  Townsend  Weekly 
Argus.  The  speaker  was  Chief  Yoy-a-att,  whose  name  occurs 
in  the  religious  compact  given  above  : 

"  The  white  man's  God  we  knew  not  o^  Nature  evinced  to 
us  that  there  was  a  great  first  cause.  Beyond  that  all  was  blank. 
Our  god  was  created  by  us,  that  is,  we  selected  animals  and 
birds,  the  images  of  which  we  revered  as  gods. 

"  Natural  instincts  taught  us  to  supply  our  wants  from  that 
which  we  beheld  around  us.  If  we  wanted  food,  the  waters 
gave  us  fish ;  and  if  we  wanted  raiment,  the  wild  animals  of  the 
woods  gave  us  skins,  which  we  converted  to  our  use.  Imple- 
ments of  warfare  and  tools  to  work  with  we  constructed  rudely 
from  stone  and  wood.     Fire  we  discovered  by  friction. 

Change  in  the  Dream. 

"  In  the  course  of  time  a  change  came  over  the  spirit  of  our 
dreams.  We  became  aware  of  the  fact  that  we  were  not  the  only 
beings  in  the  shape  of  man  that  inhabited  this  earth.  White  men 
appeared  before  us  on  the  surface  of  the  great  waters  in  large 
ships,  which  we  called  canoes. 

"  Each  day  the  white  man  becomes  more  perfect  in  the  arts 
and  sciences,  while  the  Indian  is  at  a  standstill.     Why  is  this  ? 


SPREAD   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN    FAITH.  51; 

Is  it  because  the  God  you  have  told  us  of  is  a  white  God,  and 
that  you,  being  of  his  color,  have  been  favored  by  him  ?  My 
brothers,  look  at  our  skin.  We  are  dark.  We  are  not  your 
color  ;  hence  you  call  us  Indians.  Is  this  the  reason  that  we  are 
ignorant  ?     Is  this  the  cause  of  our  not  knowing  our  Creator  ? 

We  ask  of  our  father  at  Washington  that  we  be  recognized  as 
a  people,  inasmuch  as  he  recognizes  all  other  Indians  in  other 
portions  of  the  United  States.  We  ask  that  we  be  civilized, 
Christianized  and  educated.  Give  us  a  chance,  and  we  will  soon 
show  to  the  world  that  we  can  become  peaceable  citizens  and 
good  Christians." 

In  view  of  this  direct  appeal  from  the  Indians  themselves  it  is 
rather  lamentable  that  the  Christian  Church  of  the  United  States 
for  more  than  a  decade  not  merely  allowed  all  the  work  done  by 
the  Russians  to  lapse,  but  even  brooked  the  introduction  of  evil 
practices  and  evil  ways  among  the  Indians.  It  must  not  be  for- 
gotten that  these  savages  were  apt  scholars  not  less  in  the  vices 
of  civilization  than  in  its  virtues. 

Took  Naturally  to  Whisky. 

In  illustration  of  this  it  may  be  said  that  early  in  the  days  of 
the  American  occupation  the  savages  learned  to  distil  whisky, 
calling  their  rudely  made  stills  hoo-chi-noo.  The  natives  made 
the  whisky  by  distillation  from  molasses  and  their  stills  were 
very  simple  affairs.  They  consisted  of  two  discarded  kerosene 
oil  cans  and  the  long,  hollow  root  of  the  sea  weed  for  a  pipe. 
The  still  took  its  name  from  the  tribe  that  first  manufactured  it. 
The  tutor  of  the  savages  in  the  art  of  making  whisky  was  a  dis- 
charged soldier. 

From  1877,  when  Dr.  Jackson  and  Mrs.  McFarland  began  the 
work  of  the  Presbyterian  missions  of  Alaska  at  Fort  W'rangel, 
interest  never  died  out.     Steps  w^ere  taken  in  the  United  States  to 


512  SPREAD   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   FAITH. 

render  assistance  and  the  little  band  of  Indians  who  joined  together 
in  Christian  work  before  the  missionaries'  arrival  were  their  con- 
stant helpers.  Communication  was  had  as  often  as  possible  with 
interested  people  in  the  South,  and  soon  these  fearless  workers 
for  Christ  had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that,  in  a  large 
measure,  wherever  their  efforts  were  directed,  they  had  put  an 
end  to  witchcraft,  and  to  many  of  the  grosser  practices  of  the 
Indians,  and  had  thus  brought  better  hopes,  better  manners  and 
better  morals  among  the  natives. 

Methodists  Begin  Work. 

About  the  same  time  that  this  movement  was  inaugurated  by 
the  Presbyterian  denomination,  a  similar  movement  was  started 
by  the  Methodist  Church.  Dr.  Jackson  pays  a  tribute  of  appre- 
ciation to  three  men,  whom  he  deems  remarkable  workers  in  the 
cause  of  religion  in  Alaska.  These  are  the  Rev.  Innocentius 
Veniamimoff,  of  the  Greek  Church,  who,  commencing  as  a  hum- 
ble priest  in  Alaska,  was  made  Bishop  and  then  Primate  of  the 
Greek  Church  of  all  Russia  ;  Mr.  William  Duncan,  of  the  Church 
Missionary  Society  of  London,  who  built  up  the  model  Indian 
village  of  Metlahkatlah  ;  and  the  Rev.  Thomas  Crosby,  mission- 
ary of  the  Methodist  Church  of  Canada  at  Fort  Simpson,  on  the 
edge  of  Alaska, 

It  was  in  February  of  1 862  that  Mr.  Crosby  left  his  old  parish 
for  work  among  the  Indians  in  the  Territory.  He  began  by  teach- 
ing an  Indian  school  at  Nanaimo  in  1863,  and  in  1867  he  took  a 
circuit  extending  up  and  down  the  coast  among  the  Indians  for 
180  miles,  and  up  the  Fraser  River  to  Vale.  Two  years  later 
he  inaugurated  a  regular  system  of  typical  revival  meetings 
among  the  natives,  and  hundreds  of  the  Flathead  Indians  became 
interested  and  professed  conversiop. 

Mr.  Crosby  had  several  efficient  allies.     Among  these  was  a 


SPREAD   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   FAITH.  513 

Mrs.  Dix,  who  was  a  full-blooded  Indian  woman,  the  daughter 
of  a  great  chief,  and  a  chieftaness  in  her  own  right.  When  a  child 
she  was  frequently  taken  up  a  great  river  in  a  canoe  and  taught 
to  worship  a  large  mountain  peak.  Her  mother's  god,  Dr. 
Crosby  says,  was  a  fish.  Desiring  to  learn  something  of  the 
white  man's  God,  the  Indian  girl  began  to  attend  religious  services 
in  Victoria,  following  it  up  systematically  for  seven  years.  But, 
as  she  afterwards  stated,  she  found  no  light  or  comfort. 

A  New  Recruit. 

In  1868  a  great  medicine  man  named  Amos,  who,  in  his  in- 
cantations, had  torn  in  pieces  with  his  teeth  and  eaten  dead 
bodies,  commenced  attending  the  Methodist  Church.  Amos  be- 
came one  of  the  first  converts  and  soon  a  class  leader.  Through 
him  Mrs.  Dix  became  a  disciple  of  Christ,  and  later  on  an  ardent 
worker  for  the  betterment  of  her  people. 

Another  instance  of  Indian  conversion  may  be  given  as  a 
sample  of  the  interest  the  natives  took  in  the  efforts  made  to  in- 
struct them  in  Christian  life.  An  old,  grey-haired,  blind  Indian, 
hundred  of  miles  away,  heard  of  the  work  being  done  by  the 
Metfiodist  missionaries,  and  took  his  grandson  and  started  for 
the  coast.  They  paddled,  many  a  lonely  mile  in  their  canoe,  and 
many  were  the  suns  that  set  upon  their  bleak  evening  camp. 

When  near  the  coast,  it  is  related,  they  were  met  by  a  Christian. 
The  blind  man  was  ever  repeating  to  himself  as  he  groped  along : 
"Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners."  The  atten- 
tion of  the  Christian  was  arrested  and  his  interests  awakened. 
He  stopped  the  little  party  and  got  from  the  old  man  the  story 
of  his  wanderings.  Then  the  Indian  was  directed  to  a  mission 
station  and  went  on  his  way  rejoicing.  He,  too,  during  his  life, 
and  his  grandson  after  him,  were  energetic  and  enthusiastic  as- 
sistants of  the  missionaries. 
33 


.*514  SPREAD   OF  THE    CHRISTIAN   FAITH. 

Under  Methodist  auspices  schools  of  various  kinds  have  been 
successfully  established.  A  day  school  in  winter  was  soon  run- 
ning, which  had  1 20  pupils,  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that 
the  little  band  of  energetic  spirits  who  gathered  about  Mr.  Crosby 
joon  reached  whole  tribes  and  led  them  steadily,  even  though 
slowly,  to  a  hig\er  form  of  civilization. 

Under  the  influence  of  Christianity  the  Indians  began  to  aban- 
don their  large  houses,  which  were  the  common  abode  of  several 
families,  and  build  separate  houses  for  each  family.  Within  two 
years  from  the  time  the  work  began  sixty  such  dwellings  had 
been  erected  by  Indian  mechanics,  and  the  old  houses,  that  had 
been  scenes  of  so  much  depravity  and  corruption,  were  fast  dis- 
appearing, with  other  remnants  of  the  Indian's  old  life. 

No  apology  is  offered  for  the  insertion  of  the  following  simple 
but  touching  native  address,  which  tells  much  of  the  spirit  of 
the  Indians  and  the  earnestness  with  which  they  welcomed  the 
new  life  that  was  brought  to  them : 

"  We,  the  chiefs  and  people  of  the  Naas,  welcome  you  from 
our  hearts  on  your  safe  arrival  here,  to  begin  in  earnest  the 
mission  work  you  promised  us  last  spring. 

Hope  for  the  Young. 

"  Our  past  life  has  been  bad,  ver}^  bad.  We  have  been  so 
long  left  in  darkness  that  we  fear  you  will  not  be  able  to  do 
much  for  our  old  people,  but  for  our  young  ones  we  have  great 
hopes.  We  wish  from  our  hearts  to  have  our  young  men, 
women  and  children  read  and  write,  so  that  they  may  understand 
the  duties  they  owe  to  their  Creator  and  to  each  other. 

"  You  will  find  great  difficulties  in  the  way  of  such  work,  but 
great  changes  cannot  be  expected  in  one  day.  You  must  not 
get  discouraged  by  a  little  trouble,  and  we  tell  you  again  tht 
we  will  all  help  you  a',    nuch  as  we  can. 


SPREAD    OF   THE    CHRISTIAN   FAITH.  515 

"  We  believe  this  work  to  be  of  God.  We  have  prayed,  as 
you  told  us,  and  now  we  think  that  God  has  heard  our  prayers, 
and  sent  you  to  us  ;  and  it  seems  to  us  like  the  day  breaking  in 
on  our  darkness,  and  we  think  that  before  long  the  great  Sun 
will  shine  upon  us  and  give  us  more  light. 

"  We  hope  to  see  the  white  men  that  settle  among  us  set  us 
good  example,  as  they  have  had  the  light  so  long,  they  know 
what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong.  We  hope  they  will  assist  us 
to  do  good  that  we  may  become  better  and  better  every  day  by 
following  their  example. 

"  We  again  welcome  you  from  our  hearts,  and  hope  that  the 
mission  here  will  be  like  a  great  rock  never  to  be  moved  or 
washed  away.  And  in  order  to  do  this,  we  will  pray  to  the  Great 
Spirit  that  His  blessing  may  rest  upon  this  mission  and  upon 
us  all. 

"  (Signed)     Chief  of  the  Mountains 

and  six  other  Chiefs." 


CHAPTER  XXII. 
British  Columbia  and  Northwest  Territory. 

Region  is  One  of  Vast  Extent  and  Diversified  Features — Has  a  Magnificent 
Ocean  Frontage — A  Land  of  Great  Rivers  which  AiTord  Internal  High- 
ways— Greatest  of  All  is  the  Columbia — Has  a  Large  Ocean  Trade  Even 
Now — Experiments  in  Fruit  Growing  Successful — Construction  of  Rail- 
ways Has  Given  an  Impetus  to  Development — Many  Districts  Famous 
for  Their  Grain  and  Others  for  Their  Mineral  Deposits — Gold  Mines  in 
Abundance — Klondike  Within  the  Canadian  Territory — Some  of  the 
Mines   Now  Worked — Silver   Not  Wanting. 

THE  vast  stretch  of  British  territory  lying  immediately  adja- 
cent to  Alaska,  British  Columbia  and  Northwest  Territory, 
properly  calls  for  a  description  in  the  present  work,  since  it 
contains  many  of  the  most  valuable  gold  fields  about  which  there 
was  such  excitement  in  the  year  1897.  The  Klondike  district,  it 
will  be  remembered,  is  at  least  thirty-five  miles  within  the  real  or 
alleged  boundary  between  Canada  and  the  United  States. 

British  Columbia  is  the  most  westerly  province  of  Canada,  ex- 
tending from  the  49th  parallel  on  the  south  to  the  60th  degree 
of  north  latitude,  and  from  the  summit  of  the  Rocky  Mountains 
westward  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  Vancouver  Island  and  Queen's 
Charlotte's  Islands  being  included  within  its  bounds.  The  Pro- 
vince contains  the  immense  area  of  383,000  square  miles.  It  is 
a  diversified  country  of  immense  mountain  ranges,  fertile  valleys, 
splendid  forests  and  magnificent  waterways. 

The  position  of  British  Columbia  on  the  north  Pacific  Ocean, 
bearing  a  somewhat  similar  relation  to  the  larger  portions  of  the 
American  continent  that  Great  Britain  does  to  Europe  for  the 
trade  of  the  world,  makes  it  one  of  the  most  important  and  valu- 

516 


BRITISH   COLUMBIA.  517 

able  provinces  of  the  Dominion,  both  commercially  and  politically. 

The  Province  has  a  magnificent  ocean  frontage  of  1000  miles. 
This  coast  line  abounds  in  harbors,  sounds,  islands  and  navigable 
inlets.  Principal  among  these  harbors  are  English  Bay  and  Coal 
Harbor,  at  the  entrance  to  Burrard  Inlet,  a  few  miL-s  north  of 
the  Eraser  River.  Vancouver  is  the  terminus  of  the  Canadian 
Pacific  Railway,  and  is  situated  between  these  harbors.  Vic- 
toria, on  Vancouver  Island,  also  has  a  magnificent  outer  harbor 
at  which  all  the  ocean  liners  dock,  and  an  inner  harbor  for 
vessels  drawing  up  to  eighteen  feet.  It  has  also  another  harbor 
at  Esquinalt,  three  miles  to  the  southeast. 

This  latter  harbor  is  about  two  miles  long  and  nearly  two 
miles  broad  in  the  widest  part.  It  has  an  average  depth  of  six 
to  eight  fathoms  and  thus  affords  an  excellent  anchor  for  ves.sels. 
The  Canadian  government  has  built  here  a  dry  dock  with  a 
length  of  450  feet  and  a  width  of  ninety  feet,  which  will  accom- 
modate vessels  of  the  largest  size. 

Magnificent  Rivers. 

Like  Alaska,  British  Columbia  and  Northwest  Territory  have 
some  magnificent  rivers,  principal  among  which  are  the  Eraser, 
the  Columbia,  the  Thompson,  the  Kootaney,  the  Skeena,  the 
Stickine,  the  Laird,  and  the  Peace.  The  Eraser  River  is  the 
greater  water  course  of  the  province,  rising  in  the  northern  part 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  running  about  200  miles  in  two 
branches  in  a  w-esterly  direction,  and  thence  in  one  stream  due 
south  for  nearly  400  miles  before  turning  to  rush  through  the 
gorges  of  the  coast  range  to  the  Straits  of  Georgia. 

The  total  length  of  the  river  is  therefore  about  740  miles. 
On  its  way  the  Era.ser  receives  the  tributar)'  waters  of  the 
Thompson,  the  Chilicoten,  the  Lillooet,  the  Nicola,  the  Harri- 
son, the   Pitt,  and   a  number  of  smaller  streams.      Eor  the  last 


618  BRITISH    COLUMBIA. 

eighty  miles  of  its  course  it  flows  through  a  wide  alluvial  plain, 
which  has  largely  been  deposited  from  its  own  silt. 

The  Columbia  River  rises  in  the  southeastern  part  of  the 
province,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  near  the 
Kootanay  Lake.  On  this  lake  has  already  been  established  a 
regular  steamboat  service.  The  Columbia  runs  north  to  just  be- 
yond the  5  2d  degree  of  latitude,  and  then  turns  suddenly  and 
runs  due  south  into  the  State  of  Washington.  The  loop  thus 
made  is  commonly  known  as  "The  Big  Bend  of  the  Columbia." 
No  less  an  area  than  195,000  square  miles  is  drained  by  the 
Columbia  River. 

Network  of  Lakes  and  Creeks. 

The  Peace  River  rises  some  distance  north  of  the  north  bend 
of  the  Fraser  and  flows  eastwardly  to  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
draining  the  plains  on  the  other  side.  In  the  far  north  are  the 
Skeena  and  Stickine  Rivers,  both  flowing  into  the  Pacific,  the 
latter,  of  course,  being  in  a  country  valuable  for  its  gold 
deposits.  The  Thompson  River  has  two  branches,  which  are 
known  as  North  Thompson  and  South  Thompson.  The  former 
rises  in  small  lakes  in  the  Cariboo  district,  and  the  latter  in  the 
Shuswap  Lakes  in  the  Yale  district. 

British  Columbia,  undeveloped  and  little  known,  as  it  is,  is 
already  an  important  Province  of  the  Dominion.  Its  trade, 
which  is  ever  rapidly  increasing  in  volume,  has  assumed  immense 
proportions,  and  reaches  to  China,  Japan,  Australia,  Europe, 
Africa  and  South  America.  The  principal  seaport — Vancouver, 
the  western  terminus  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway — is  the 
gateway  of  the  new  and  shortest  highways  to  the  Orient,  the 
Far  North,  the  Tropics  and  the  Antipodes.  The  voyage  from 
Yokohama,  Japan,  to  London  has  already  been  made  in  twenty- 
one  days   by  this    route,  beating   all  previous   records  ;  and  the 


519 


620  BRITISH   COLUMBIA. 

journey  to  and   from    Australia,  via  Vancouver,  is   speedier  and 
more  pleasant  than  by  any  other  route. 

British  Columbia  attracts  not  only  a  large  portion  of  the 
Japan,  China  and  Australian  rapid  transit  trade,  but  must  neces- 
sarily secure  much  of  the  commerce  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  the 
steamers  of  the  Canadian-Australian  Line  touching  at  the 
Hawaiian  and  Fijian  Islands.  Its  timber  is  unequalled  in  quan- 
tity, quality  or  variety  ;  its  numerous  mines  already  discovered, 
and  its  great  extent  of  unexplored  country,  speak  of  vast  areas 
of  rich  mineral  wealth  ;  its  large  fertile  valleys  indicate  great 
agricultural  resources,  and  its  waters,  containing  marvelous  quanti- 
ties of  the  most  valuable  fish,  combine  to  give  British  Columbia  a 
value  that  has  been  little  understood. 

Boundaries  of  British  Columbia. 

The  vast  Territory  of  British  Columbia  is  divided  into  six  dis- 
tricts, the  New  Westminster,  the  Cassiar,  the  Cariboo,  the  Lil- 
looet,  the  Yale,  and  the  East  and  the  West  Kootenay. 

The  New  Westminster  district  extends  from  the  international 
boundary  line  on  the  South  to  50°  15'  on  the  North.  Its  east- 
ern boundary  is  the  122°  longitude,  and  its  western  the  124° 
where  it  strikes  the  head  of  Jarvis  Inlet  and  the  Straits  of 
Georgia.  In  the  southern  portion  of  this  district  there  is  a  good 
deal  of  excellent  farming  land,  particularly  in  the  delta  of  the 
Fraser  River.  The  soil  there  is  rich  and  strong,  the  climate 
mild,  resembling  that  of  England,  v;ich  more  marked  seasons  of 
rain  and  dry  weather,  and  heavy  yields  are  obtained  without 
much  labor.  Very  large  returns  of  wheat  have  been  got  from 
land  in  this  locality — as  much  as  sixty-two  bushels  from  a  mea- 
sured acre,  ninety  bushels  of  oats  per  acre,  and  hay  that  yielded 
three  and  one-half  to  five  tons  to  the  acre,  and  frequently  two 
crops,  totaling  six  tons. 


BRITISH    COLUMBIA.  521 

•Experiments  have  of  late  years  been  made  in  fruit  growing, 
with  the  most  satisfactory  results — apples,  plums,  pears,  cherries 
and  all  the  smaller  fruits  being  grown  in  profusion,  and  at  the 
Experimental  Farm  at  Agassiz,  figs  in  small  quantities  have  been 
successfully  produced.  This  part  is  fairly  well  settled,  but  there 
is  still  ample  room  for  new  comers.  Those  having  a  little  money 
to  use,  and  desirous  of  obtaining  a  ready-made  farm,  may  find 
many  to  choose  from.  These  settlements  are  not  all  on  the 
Eraser  ;  some  are  at  a  distance  from  it  on  other  streams.  There 
is  considerable  good  timber  in  the  w^estern  and  south-western 
portions. 

The  chief  towns  of  this  district  are  Vancouver  and  New  West- 
minster. Vancouver  is  situated  on  a  peninsula,  having  Coal 
Harbor,  in  Burrard  Inlet,  on  the  East,  and  English  Bay  on  the 
West.  It  is  surrounded  by  a  rare  country,  both  in  beauty  and 
climate.  In  the  far  distance  it  is  backed  by  the  Olympian  range. 
On  the  north  it  is  sheltered  by  the  mountains  of  the  coast,  and 
it  is  also  sheltered  from  the  ocean  by  the  highlands  of  Van- 
couver Island.  While  it  is  thus  protected  on  every  side,  ii 
enjoys  the  sea  breeze  from  the  Straits  of  Georgia. 

The  inlet  affords  unlimited  space  for  sea-going  ships,  the  land 
falls  gradually  to  the  sea,  rendering  drainage  easy,  and  the  situa- 
tion permits  of  indefinite  expansion  of  the  city  in  two  directions. 
It  has  a  splendid  and  inexhaustible  water  supply  brought  across 
the  inlet  from  a  river  in  ct  ravine  of  one  of  the  neighboring 
heights. 

The  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  was  completed  to  Vancouver 
in  May,  1887,  when  the  first  through  train  arrived  in  that  city 
from  Montreal,  Port  Moody  having  been  the  western  terminus 
from  July  of  the  preceding  year.  In  1887,  also  the  Canadian 
Pacific  Railway  Company  put  a  line  of  steamships  on  the  route 
between  Vancouver  and  Japan  and  China,  and  in  1893  an  excel- 


522  BRITISH    COLUMBIA. 

lent  service  was  established  between  Vancouver  and  Victoria 
and  Aiistralia,  via  Honolulu  and  Suva,  Fiji. 

These  three  important  projects  are  giving  an  impetus  to  the 
growth  of  the  city  by  placing  its  advantages  entirely  beyond  the 
realm  of  speculation,  and  the  advancement  made  is  truly 
marvelous. 

New  Westminster  was  founded  by  Colonel  Moody  during  the 
Fraser  River  gold  excitement  in  1858.  It  is  situated  on  the 
north  bank  of  the  Fraser  River,  fifteen  miles  from  its  moutli. 
It  is  accessible  for  deep  water  shipping  and  lies  in  the  centre  of  a 
tract  of  country'  of  rich  and  varied  resources.  It  is  connected 
with  the  main  line  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  by  a  branch 
line  from  Westminster  Junction  and  with  Vancouver  by  an  electric 
railway. 

This  town  is  chiefly  known  for  its  great  salmon  trade  and  its 
lumber  business.  The  agricultural  interests,  however,  of  the 
district  are  now  coming  to  the  front  and  the  city  has  the  promise 
of  stability  and  importance. 

Wide  Stretches  of  Fertile   Lands. 

The  Cassiar  district  occupies  the  whole  western  portion  of  the 
province  from  the  26th  degree  of  longitude.  While  its  argicul- 
tural  capabilities  have  not  yet  been  fully  determined,  it  is  known 
to  possess  a  number  of  tracts  of  very  fertile  land,  notably  that 
occupied  by  the  Bella  Coola  Colony,  which  has  the  promise  of 
great  prosperity. 

The  district  contains  some  of  the  richest  gold  mines  )'et  dis- 
covered in  the  province,  and  indications  are  numerous  of  further 
mineral  wealth  to  be  developed.  There  are  some  prosperous 
fish  canning  establishments  on  the  coast,  and  parts  of  the  district 
are  thickly  timbered.  Communication  with  the  Cassiar  District 
is   principally  by  water.     Steamers  start  at  regular  dates  from 


BRITISH    COLUMBIA.  523 

Victoria  for  the  Skccna  River,  Port  Simpson  and  other  points 
on  the  coast  within  the  district. 

The  Cariboo  district  Hes  between  Cassiar  on  tlic  west  and 
the  Canadian  Northwest  on  the  east,  its  southern  boundary- 
being  the  5  2d  parallel.  This  district  contains  the  famous  Cariboo 
mines,  from  which  $50,000,000  in  gold  have  already  been  taken. 

It  is  said  that  there  is  still  in  this  district  a  promising  field 
for  the  miner.  The  immense  output  of  the  placer  diggings 
being  the  result  of  explorations  and  operations  necessarily  con- 
fined to  the  surface,  the  enormous  cost  and  almost  insuperable 
difficulties  of  transporting  heavy  machinery  necessitate  the  em- 
ployment of  the  most  primitive  appliances  in  mining. 

Obstacles  a  Hindrance. 

These  obstacles  to  the  full  development  of  the  marvelously 
rich  gold  fields  cf  Cariboo  have  been  largely  overcome  by  the 
construction  of  the  Canadian  Pacific,  and  the  improvement  of  the 
great  highway  from  that  railway  to  northern  British  Columbia, 
with  the  result  that  the  work  of  development  has  recently  been 
vigorously  and  extensively  prosecuted.  During  the  past  few 
years  several  costly  hydraulic  plants  have  been  introduced  by 
different  wealthy  mining  companies  which  are  now  operating 
well-known  claims  with  the  most  gratifying  results,  and  there  is 
every  prospect  of  a  second  golden  harvest,  which  in  its  immen- 
sity and  value  will  completely  overshadow  that  which  made 
Cariboo  famous  thirt)'  years  ago. 

The  development  work  for  the  season  of  1896  served  to 
materially  advance  the  interests  of  this  district.  Many  hundreds 
of  men  found  employment  in  1 897,  and  it  is  said  that  no  one 
wishing  to  do  honest  work  for  fair  pay  need  there  be  idle. 

The  quartz  mines  have  not  as  yet  been  exploited  only  in  a 
very   superficial  wa>-,  but  the   rich  surface   showing   on    Bums, 


524  BRITISH   COLUMBIA. 

Island  and  Bald  mountains,  all  tend  to  prove  that  further  reseaich 
and  a  fair  use  of  capital  will  make  the  quartz  mines  of  the 
Cariboo  district  among  the  great  producers  and  dividend  payers 
of  the  world.  Gold  abounds  in  every  valley,  and  in  every 
stream  that  empties  into  it,  and  there  is  no  estimating  the 
unusual  activity  in  the  Cariboo  mining  circles,  some  of  the  richest 
places  merely  awaiting  the  advent  of  capital  for  that  development 
which  the  new  condition  of  affairs  has   rendered   easily  possible. 

Cariboo  is  not  without  agricultural  resources,  and  there  is  a 
limited  area  in  scattered  localities  in  which  farming  and  ranching 
are  carried  on ;  but  this  region  will  always  prove  more  attractive 
to  the  miner  than  to  the  settler.  The  early  construction  of  a 
railway  from  a  point  on  the  main  line  of  the  Canadian  Pacific, 
through  the  district,  when  completed  will  open  up  many  desir- 
able locations  and  largely  assist  in  developing  the  immense 
mineral  wealth  already  known  to  exist. 

The  Yale  district  is  on  the  east  of  Lillooet  and  New  West- 
minster. It  extends  southward  to  the  international  boundary 
and  eastward  to  the  range  of  high  lands  that  separates  the 
Okanagan  Valley  from  the  Arrow  Lakes.  This  district,  it  is 
said,  affords  fine  openings  for  miners,  lumbermen,  farmers  and 
ranchmen. 

Is  Famous  for   Grain. 

Okanagan  is  famous  as  a  grain  growing  country'.  For  many 
years  this  industry  was  not  prosecuted  vigorously,  but  of  late 
there  has  been  unusual  activity  in  this  respect,  and  samples  of 
wheat  raised  in  the  district  were  sent  to  the  Vienna  Exposition, 
where  they  were  awarded  the  highest  premiums  and  bronze 
medals.  One  of  the  best  flouring  mills  in  the  Dominion  is  now 
in  operation  at  Enderby.  It  is  said  that  the  flour  manufactured 
at  this  point  is  equal  to  the  product  of  any  other  section  of  North 
America. 


BRITISH   COLUMBIA.  525 

Considerable  attention  is  now  being  given  to  the  various  kinds 
of  fruit  culture,  and  an  important  movement  is  on  foot  looking 
to  the  conversion  of  the  grain  fields  into  orchards  and  hop  fields. 
Attention  has  been  more  particularly  turned  to  the  production  of 
Kentish  hops,  and  during  the  past  four  years  hops  from  this  sec- 
tion have  brought  the  highest  prices  in  the  I^nglish  market,  com- 
peting successfully  with  the  English,  the  Continental,  and  those 
grown  in  other  parts  of  America. 

The  Earl  of  Aberdeen,  Governor-General  of  Canada,  has  a 
large  fruit  farm  near  Kelowna,  on  the  east  side  of  the  lake. 
His  Excellency  has  also  over  13,000  acres  near  Vernon,  in  the 
Coldstream  Valley,  w^here  general  farming,  hop  growing  and 
fruit  raising  are  carried  on.  His  orchard  of  about  125  acres  is 
the  point  of  attraction  for  visitors  to  Vernon.  An  excellent 
quality  of  cigar  wrapper  and  leaf  tobacco  is  grown  about 
Kelowna,  shipments  of  which  are  yearly  increasing,  but  the  pro- 
duction has  not  yet  become  general. 

•  Has   a   Vast   Acreage. 

The  West  Kootenay  district  is  the  next  east  of  Yale,  extend- 
ing north  and  south  from  the  Big  Bend  of  the  Columbia  to  the 
international  boundary,  embracing,  with  East  Kootena}',  an  area 
of  16,500,000  acres.  West  Kootenay  is  noted  chief!}'  for  its 
great  mineral  wealth.  Rich  deposits  of  various  metals  have  been 
discovered  in  different  sections  awd  new  finds  have  been  made 
almost  weekly  for  years.  It  is  described  by  those  who  have 
visited  it  a'j  a  country  of  illimitable  possibilities.  It  is  as  yet, 
however,  only  in  the  earUest  stages  of  development.  Its  vast 
hidden  wealth  is  thus  largely  a  matter  of  conjecture. 

Great  progress  has  been  made,  though,  and  many  camps  have 
been  established  throughout  the  entire  district,  and  equipped 
with  all  the  necessary  machinery  for  mining  operations.     In  the 


526  BRITISH    COLUMBIA. 

Lardeau,  Big  Bend  and  other  parts  of  the  district  the  promise  is 
that  the  output  will  be  very  large  in  the  near  future. 

The  output  of  ore  in  1 896  in  West  Kootenay  approximated  1 
$6,000,000,  and  with  the  additional  transportation  and  smelting 
facilities  now  being  afforded  this  amount  will  doubtless  be 
largely  increased  during  1897.  Capitalists  and  practical  miners 
have  shown  their  unbounded  confidence  in  West  Kootenay  by 
investing  millions  of  dollars  in  developing  claims,  equipping 
mines,  erecting  smelters,  building  tramways,  etc.,  and  an  eminent 
American  authority  speaks  of  it  as  "  the  coming  mining  empire 
of  the  Northwest." 

In  1 896  the  population  of  West  Kootenay  was  trebled,  and 
the  year  witnessed  the  creation  of  a  number  of  new  mining 
camps  which  astonished  the  world  with  their  phenomenal  growth 
and  prosperity.  There  are  valuable  timber  limits  in  different 
parts  of  t^^'^,  country,  and  saw-mills  are  in  operation. 

Mines  Easily  Reached. 

The  mining  Qi^cricts  arc  easily  reached  from  Revelstoke,  on 
the  main  line  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  about  midway 
between  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Rockies  and  the  Pacific  coast. 
From  this  point  a  branch  line  south  is  completed  to  Arrowhead, 
at  the  head  of  Upper  Arrow  Lake,  from  which  the  fine  new 
steamers  of  the  Columbia  &  Kootenay  Steam  Navigation  Co. 
are  taken  to  Nakusp,  near  the  foot  of  the  lake,  where  rail  com- 
munication with  the  towns  of  the  Slocan,  the  principal  of  which 
are  New  Denver,  Three  Forks  and  Sandon,  the  centre  of  a  rich 
mining  region,  has  been  established,  and  there  is  an  excellent 
steamboat  service  on  Slocan  Lake. 

Steamers  can  also  be  taken  from  Arrowhead  past  Nakusp  to 
Robson,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Lower  Kootenay  River,  along  the 
bank  of  which  unnavigable  river  the  C.  P.  R.  runs  by  its  Colum- 


BRITISH    COLUMBIA.  527 

bia  &  Kootenay  branch  to  Nelson,  the  mctropoHs  of  the  Koo- 
tcnay  mining  district,  in  the  vicinity  of  which  are  the  celebrated 
Silver  King  and  other  mines. 

From  Nelson  steamers  ply  to  all  the  mining  towns  on  the 
Kootenay  Lake — Pilot  Bay,  Ainsworth,  Kaslo,  etc.  From  Rob- 
son  the  steamers  continue  down  the  Columbia  to  Trail,  from 
which  point  Rossland,  the  centre  of  the  new  gold  fields  of  the 
Trail  Creek  district,  is  reached  by  railway,  and  to  Northport  in 
the  State  of  Washington. 

The  East  Kootenay  district  comprises  the  larger  part  of  the 
famous  Kootenay  region  of  British  Columbia,  which  is  entered 
from  the  East  at  Golden,  on  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway. 
Here,  too,  mines  are  worked  successfully,  and  prospectors  are 
constantly  seeking  for  new  fields.  The  district  contains  a  valley 
nearly  300  miles  long  from  the  internationally  boundary  line  to 
the  apex  of  the  Kootenay  triangle  of  the  Big  Bend  of  the 
Columbia,  with  an  average  width  of  from  eight  to  ten  miles. 

An  Attractive  Valley. 

In  the  centre  of  this  valley  are  enclosed  the  mother  lakes  of  the 
Columbia  River,  which  lie  2850  feet  above  sea  level.  The  soil 
is  reported  to  be  rich.  Judge  Sproat  describes  the  country  as 
one  of  the  prettiest  and  most  favored  valleys  in  the  province, 
having  good  grass,  a  fine  climate,  established  and  promising 
mines,  excellent  waterways,  and  an  easy  surface  for  road  making. 

There  are  numerous  mines  at  work  in  different  sections  of  the 
district,  chiefly  in  the  Lower  Kootenay  country,  in  the  north  of 
which  are  the  Kaslo-Slocan  mines  ;  in  the  centre,  those  around 
Nelson  and  Ainsworth,  and  in  the  south  those  of  the  Goat 
River  and  Trail  Creek  districts.  There  are  no  richer  gold  fields 
than  those  of  the  latter  mentioned  district,  of  which  Rossland  is 
^le  centre.      Several  mines  arc  alrca,dy  operated  extensivel)'  and 


528  BRITISH   COLUMBIA. 

are  paying  large  monthly  dividends,  while  new  discoveries  indi- 
cate that  the  full  richness  of  this  region  cannot  yet  be  even 
approximately  estimated. 

Large  shipments  of  ore  are  being  made  from  Lc  Roi,  War 
Eagle,  Josie,  Nickel  Plate,  Crown  Point,  Evening  Star,  Columbia 
and  Kootenay,  O.  K.,  Jumbo,  Cliff,  Iron  Mask,  Monte  Christo, 
St.  Elmo,  Lily  May,  Poorman  and  other  leading  mines,  while 
the  Centre  Star  and  other  properties  have  large  quantities  on  the 
dump  ready  for  shipment.  Witli  increased  home  smelting  facili- 
ties, the  output  of  the  camp  will  be  immensely  increased. 

The  most  notable  silver  mines  are  in  the  famed  Slocan  district, 
from  which  large  shipments  of  ore  have  been  and  are  being 
made — the  general  character  of  its  ore  being  high  grade  galena, 
often  carrying  400  ounces  of  silver  to  the  ton,  and  averaging  100 
ounces  and  over.  The  principal  mines  are  the  Slocan  Star, 
which  paid  $300,000  in  dividends  in  1896,  Enterprise,  Reco, 
Good  Enough,  Whitewater,  Alamo,  Ruth,  Two  Friends,  Dar- 
danelles, Noble  Five,  Washington,  Payne,  Idaho,  IVrountain 
Chief  and  Grady  groups. 

During  the  summer  of  1896,  some  of  the  richest  discoveries 
in  the  Kootenay  were  found  in  the  Salmon  River  country,  be- 
tween the  Lower  Kootenay  River  and  the  international  boundary. 
In  the  North,  in  the  Illecillewaet,  Fish  Creek  and  Trout  Lake 
districts  are  rich  properties  which  are  being  worked,  and  around 
Lardeau,  some  valuable  placer  gold  mines  and  extensive  deposits 
of  galena  are  being  developed.  Between  the  Gold  Range  and 
the  Selkirks  is  the  west  side  of  the  Big  Bend  of  the  Columbis 
River,  that  extends  north  of  the  5  2d  parallel. 


CHAPTER  XXIIl. 
Advent  of  Winter. 

Confirmation  of  Stories  About  the  Wealth  of  Klondike  and  Alaska — Perils 
of  the  Passes — Dark  and  Bright  Sides  of  the  Picture,  as  Seen  by  Argo- 
nauts— New  Diggings  Opened — Copper  River  and  Cook's  Inlet — New 
Strikes  in  the  Yukon  Basin — Two  Experiences  in  Crossing  Chilkoot 
Pass — Over  the  White  Pass — Belated  Gold  Seekers  Camping  on  the 
Trail — Woes  of  the  Horses — New  Routes — Tramway  at  Dyea — Via  the 
Snow  Train — At  St.  Michael's — In  Dawson  and  Skagway — Glacier  Slide 
and  Flood— Mt.  St.  Elias  Scaled. 

THE  advent  of  winter  in  Alaska  in  the  boom  year  of  1897 
found  several  things  definitely  settled  for  the  argonauts, 
which  before  had  been  in  some  senses  matters  of  debate, 
if  not  of  doubt.  For  one,  there  was  no  longer  any  question 
that  the  Klondike  was  the  richest  gold  field  in  the  world.  For 
another,  it  was  settled  that  to  get  to  the  diggings  was  no  holiday 
jaunt.  But  it  had  also  been  demonstrated  that  the  trip  was 
practicable,  and,  for  men  who  chose  to  use  common  sense  in 
outfitting  and  traveling,  even  easy,  in  comparison  with  some 
frontier  experiences  of  other  pioneers. 

It  had  cost  much  money  and  misery  to  gain  this  knowledge — 
the  world  was  the  richer  by  the  measure  of  the  bitter  expe- 
riences of  individuals. 

It  was  estimated  more  millions  had  been  spent  between  the 
middle  of  July  and  the  first  of  October  in  procuring  outfits 
and  transportation  to  the  Klondike  than  had  been  dug  and 
washed  out  of  the  golden  placers  in  the  entire  year.  And 
much  of  this  treasure  had  gone  to  waste,  too — the  trails  from 
the  ocean  over  the  mountains  were  strewed  with  wreckage,  till 
they  looked  not  unlike  the  path  of  a  routed  and  panic-stricken 
army.     "  Tenderfeet"  had  played  their  historic  part. 

34  529 


530  ADVENT  OF  WINTER. 

The  physical  waste  had  also  been  something  appalling.  Not 
so  many  lives  had  been  sacrificed  as  in  some  other  famous  gold 
stampedes,  for  the  way  was  not  so  long  nor  the  perils  so  many  as 
in  the  case  of  California  or  Australia  or  the  Rand  ;  nevertheless 
the  total  was  a  startling  array  of  casualties.  Lives  had  gone 
out  in  icy  torrents  or  under  avalanches,  murder  and  the  swift 
vengeance  of  the  vigilantes  had  been  done,  and  the  tragic  ele- 
ment had  been  further  sustained  by  the  uncounted  scores  of 
those  who  had  broken  health  and  spirit  in  the  mad  rush 
through  frontier  privations  and  perils  only  to  fall  by  the  wayside. 

On  the   Bright  Side. 

That  was  the  dark  side  of  the  picture.  On  the  other  hand, 
thousands  of  men  and  not  a  few  women  had  got  through  to 
Dawson  and  its  neighborhood,  and  many  more,  in  good  health, 
with  ample  supplies  and  unflagging  energies,  were  already  well 
along  on  the  journey  to  the  mines  when  October  set  in.  Re- 
ports from  the  Klondike  indicated  that  the  fears  of  wholesale 
starvation  among  the  mining  camps  during  the  winter  were  un- 
founded. The  commercial  and  trading  companies  had  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  in  large  stores  of  staple  supplies,  and  the 
prospect  was  for  abundant  and  profitable  employment  for  those 
who,  by  preference  or  fate,  might  be  forced  to  work  for  others. 
Preparations  for  ample  policeing  of  the  Yukon  basin  had  been 
made,  and  law  and  order,  unusual  in  primitive  mining  camps,  were 
promised.  Engineering,  science  and  capital  had  come  to  the  isolu- 
tion  of  the  transportation  problem,  and  the  days  of  relatively  rapid 
and  easy  traffic  over  the  passes  and  through  the  wilderness 
seemed  just  at  the  dawn.  If  the  picture  had  a  dark  side  for 
the  '97rs  who  had  tried  to  get  through  and  failed,  it  had  a  com- 
pensatory bright  side  for  those  who  were  looking  forward  to 
trying  their  fortunes  in  1 898. 


ADVENT  OF  WINTER.  631 

This  later  history  of  Alaska  is  being  written  daily  in  the  ex- 
periences of  thousands.  Much  that  is  new  one  day  will  be  old 
the  next,  so  rapidly  does  the  Klondike  kaleidoscope  revolve. 
Some  of  the  more  remarkable  incidents  of  the  Alaskan  autumn 
of  '97  follow.  They  are  all  part  of  the  wonderful  chronicle ; 
though  the  relative  importance  of  each  to  the  prospective  gold 
seeker  may  be  varied  by  after  events,  their  place  as  facts  in  the 
marvelous  development  of  the  new  El  Dorado  is  fixed. 

In  New  Diggings. 

The  close  of  the  season  brought  the  news  of  many  new  dig- 
gings. Peace,  Stewart  and  McMillan  rivers  attracted  especia' 
attention  of  prospectors  during  the  fall,  and  many  parties  went  in 
to  explore  the  new  fields.  The  most  interest  probably  centered, 
however,  in  the  Cook's  Inlet  and  Copper  River  countries.  The 
former  field  seemed  to  be  exceptionally  rich.  Early  in  October 
over  one  hundred  miners  reached  Sitka  from  the  Inlet  and  every 
one  hadhis  "  pile."  Most  of  the  metal  came  from  Mill  Creek,  Link 
Creek,  Bear  Creek,  Canon  Creek  or  smaller  streams  in  that  vicinity. 

The  clean-up  represented  the  work  of  only  one  season  on  the 
claims.  The  men  who  brought  out  the  most  were  those  who 
had  worked  their  claims  the  longest.  George  T.  Hall,  who 
represented  the  Alaska  and  Klondike  Mining  Company  as  expert 
and  chief  engineer,  said  the  gravel  in  the  Inlet  region  would 
average  ;^l.50  a  yard  and  there  was  no  end  to  it  in  sight. 

The  comparatively  temperate  winter  climate  of  the  south- 
eastern coast  region  attracted  early  attention  to  the  Copper  River 
as  a  handy  make-shift  for  those  who  had  sought  to  go  into 
Dawson  via  the  passes  and  had  been  stranded  at  Skagway  or 
Dyea  by  lack  of  transportation  over  the  crowded  trails.  Several 
parties  were  reported  organizing  for  winter  prospecting  tours  in 
that  region  early  in  the  fall  and  the  chances  were  thought  to  be 


532  ADVENT  OF  WINTER. 

that  another  year  might  see  a  formidable  rival  to  the  Klondike 
in  a  more  accessible  basin.  The  chief  drawback  to  these  ven- 
tures lay  in  the  stories  of  the  savage  native  tribes,  related  to  be 
fiercer  warriors  than  any  others  on  the  Alaskan  coast,  but  the 
most  appalling  of  these  tales  were  freely  discounted  by  veteran 
frontiersmen  and,  at  the  worst,  it  was  argued,  a  well-equipped 
body  of  determined  men  could  probably  find  a  way  to  keep  their 
gold  and  get  out  with  it,  if  they  made  a  strike. 

In  the  Klondike. 

In  the  Klondike  new  discoveries  were  reported  on  Victoria 
and  Bear  Creeks  which  were  as  rich  as  those  on  the  original 
stream,  but  both  fields  were  small  and  every  claim  was  quickly 
located.  Miller  Creek  and  Minook  Creek  also  had  "  booms  " 
and  in  fact  every  gulch  was  the  scene  of  more  or  less  excitement 
as  the  rush  for  gold  swept  over  the  country  from  one  bonanza  to 
another.  Hunker  Creek  and  Gold  Bottom  (suggestive)  Creek 
were  among  the  most  highly  esteemed  of  the  later  fields.  J.  F. 
Maloney,  of  Juneau,  estimated  some  of  the  Hunker  claims  at 
;^2000  to  the  box. 

Dominion  Surveyor  William  Ogilvie,  who  is  an  acknowledged 
authority,  was  one  of  the  latest  to  come  out  from  Dawson  en 
route  to  Ottawa  on  official  business.  In  a  report  on  the  gold- 
bearing  quartz  prospects  of  the  Yukon  valley,  he  said  : 

"  It  is  a  most  difficult  country  to  do  quartz  prospecting  in. 
Only  at  a  few  points  along  the  creek  is  any  rock  exposed.  The 
tops  of  the  higher  hills  and  ridges  are  void  of  vegetation,  except 
arctic  mosses  and  lichens,  but  all  the  rest  of  the  countr}^  is 
covered  with  a  thick  layer  of  moss  which,  again,  supports  scrub 
.spruce,  some  scrub  white  birch,  and  a  thick  growth  of  northern 
shrubbery.  This  completely  conceals  the  surface  of  the  rocks, 
and  to  remove  to  a  sufficient  extent  to  search  for  quartz  pros- 


ADVENT  OF  WINTER.  533 

pects  would  entail  a  vast  amount  of  labor — much  more  than  the 
ordinary  every  day  prospector  can  afford. 

Quartz  Mining. 

"  The  cheapest  and  most  expeditious  methods  of  quartz  pros- 
pecting here  would  be  by  diamond  drill.  A  light,  portable 
machine  of  that  description,  a  compact  light  engine  and  boiler 
sufficient  to  work  it,  could  be  easily  made  and  set  up  at  various 
points  along  the  various  creeks.  From  the  cones  thus  obtained 
experts  could  readily  determine  what  the  probabilities  and  pros- 
pects were.  This  requires  capital,  but  I  have  no  doubt  a  com- 
pany formed  with  this  object  in  view,  prospecting  in  this  way, 
would  find  it  a  profitable  investment. 

"All  the  gold  I  have  seen  taken  out  of  El  Dorado  and 
Bonanza,  for  that  matter  of  other  creeks,  too,  bears  no  evidence 
of  having  traveled  any  distance.  Many,  it  might  be  said  the 
majority,  of  the  nuggets  found  are  just  as  regular  and  irregular 
in  shape  as  if  they  had  been  hammered  out  of  the  mother  lode, 
instead  of  being  washed  out  of  the  gravel. 

"  I  have  seen  no  evidence  of  glaciation  anywhere  in  that 
district,  so  I  cannot  help  coming  to  the  conclusion  that  much 
of  the  mother  lode  from  which  this  gold  came  will  yet  be 
found  along  the  valleys.  Whether  it  is  concentrated  enough 
to  pay  for  the  expense  of  quartz  mining  can  only  be  deter- 
mined by  proper  search.  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  much 
of  it  will. 

"  Now  let  us  take  a  glimpse  of  the  country  south  of  the 
Stewart  River,  some  sixty-five  or  seventy  miles  further  up  and 
about  400  miles  in  length.  Its  tributary  will  easily  double  this. 
This  gives  us  in  the  neighborhood  of  1000  miles  of  stream.  On 
a  great  deal  of  surface  prospecting  has  been  done  and  fine  gold 
found  everywhere. 


534  ADVENT  OF  WINTER. 

"  Now,  where   fine   gold   is   found   coarse  gold  has  generally 

been  found,  too.     Assuming  this  to  hold  good  in  the  Stewart 

valley,  we  will   hav^e   here  one  of  the  largest,  if  not  the  largest, 

mining  areas  in  the  world,  upwards  of  one  hundred  miles  farther 

up   the   Pelly  Joinso.      On  this   fine   gold  has   been  found,  too. 

Above  is  the  Hootalinqua,  upon  which  fine  gold  has  been  found. 

Still  farther  south  the  Cassiar  district,  in  British  Columbia,  was  a 

famous  gold  field.      Farther    on    yet  the    Cariboo    district    was 

famous. 

Where  the  Gold  Is. 

"  Now,  draw  a  line  through  these  several  points  and  produce 
it  northwestward,  you  will  find  that  the  Forty  Mile  gold  bearing 
area,  Mission  Creek  and  Seventy  Mile  Creek,  below  Forty  Mile, 
Birch  Creek,  Minook  Creek,  and  still  farther  down  the  Klondike 
is  either  in  this  line  or  close  to  it.  The  general  trend  of  these 
points  lies  in  the  direction  of  an  arc  of  a  great  circle  of  the  earth 
and  it  is  probable  that  gold  will  be  found  along  its  production  as 
far  as  Bering  Sea.  It  is  likely  the  gold  found  in  Siberia  is  a  part 
of  the  same  system. 

"  This  shows  a  most  extensive  area  of  vast  possibilities.  What 
it  wants  for  its  proper  development  is  increased  transportation 
facilities,  with  the  certainty  of  sufficient  food  supply  to  sustain 
the  number  of  people  required.  At  present  and  during  the  past, 
a  visit  to  the  country  entailed  a  long  period  of  time  and  consid- 
erable expense  and  much  uncertainty  as  to  whether  or  not  one 
can  remain  there  more  than  a  few  weeks.  Give  us  increased, 
quicker,  and  cheaper  ingress  and  egress,  with  a  certainty  of  food 
in  this  part  of  Canada,  and  Alaska  will  furnish  employment  to 
untold  thousands." 

All  the  discoveries  were  not  confined  to  gold.  William 
Miller,  a  veteran  from  the  diamond  mines  of  South  Africa  and 
Brazil,  wrote  late  in   the  summer  that  he  had  found  a  blue  clay 


ADVENT  OF  WINTER.  535 

near  Dawson  which  was  practically  identical  with  that  of  South 
Africa.  From  this  he  argued  the  probability  of  finding  dia- 
monds.    One  paragraph  in  his  letter  said  : 

"  You  have  undoubtedly  heard  much  of  the  great  wealth  of 
this  land,  but  the  best  lias  never  yet  been  told.  It  is  my  honest 
opinion  lliat  diamonds  will  }'et  be  found  in  this  country,  for  I 
have  found  a  blue  clay  that  is  practically  identical  with  that  of 
South  Africa,  with  other  characteristics  that  in  Africa  would  be 
taken  as  a  certain  indication  that  shiners  were  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. I  have  not  made  a  systematic  search  for  stones,  but  I 
propose  doing  so  later.  Just  now  I  am  too  busy  panning  gold 
to  spend  any  time  prospecting  for  a  bird  in  the  bush." 

Situation  at  Dawson. 

Joaquin  Millei  wrote  from  Dawson  on  the  "  anniversarv' "  day, 
as  follows  : 

"An  agent  of  the  Rothschilds  told  me  tha:  he  offered  ;^  1,2  50- 
000  for  ten  claims  together,  but  did  not  get  th-m.  I  think  he 
is  going  out  without  making  any  purchases.  The  most  of  the  ten 
claims  have  not  even  had  a  pick  in  them  yet,  far  as  I  can  see. 
They  look  like  a  marsh  with  mud  and  moss.  You  sink  at  least 
six  inches  in  the  soft  and  sloppy  brown  mud  as  you  walk  over 
it.  This  marsh  is  a  muck  as  you  can  see  by  claims  that  are 
partly  open  up  and  down  the  gulch,  and  below  this  muck  of 
three  or  four  feet  is  the  frozen  ground  of  five  or  ten  feet  thick- 
ness, in  which  the  gold  is  found. 

"The  prices  asked  for  claims  are  absolutely  steep.  A  lawyer 
from  Juneau  offered  $100,000  for  a  claim  )'csterday,  but  was 
laughed  at  by  the  owner,  who  simply  camps  with  his  claim  and 
does  not  work  enough  to  hold  it.  He  is  waiting  to  get  $250,000 
for  it,  he  says. 

"  Captain  Healy  told  me  that  neither  Montano  nor  Idaho  ever 


536  ADVENT  OF  WINTER. 

showed  anything  Hkc  the  gold  in  sight  in  the  Klondike  mines. 
He  said  there  would  be  more  gold  taken  out  of  this  Yukon 
country  than  ever  has  been  taken  out  of  all  the  States  together. 
Of  course,  they  all  say  that  they  are  the  richest  in  the  world,  and 
that  they  are  practically  exhaustless,  but  they  advise  men  to 
keep  away  if  they  are  not  miners.  It  is  to  our  interest  to  have 
a  great  rush  this  way,  but  I  don't  want  weak  men  of  any  sort 
here.  This  is  no  place  for  a  man  who  knows  nothing  about 
mining.  Only  miners,  and  sound  good  miners  at  that,  should 
come  to  the  Klondike." 

Tales  of  the  Passes. 

All  sorts  of  stories  come  in  about  the  passes  and  the  principal 
towns  at  their  coast  ends.  All  of  them,  perhaps,  were  some- 
what exaggerated,  according  to  the  temperament  and  good  or 
bad  luck  of  the  relator,  but  all  probably  had  a  fair  foundation  of 
truth.  A  "  tenderfoot  "  would  naturally  view  a  foot-and-hand 
journey  through  a  mountain  pass,  whose  principal  points  were 
precipitous  paths,  mud,  snow,  rain,  sleet,  ice  and  tempests,  as 
something  terrifying  and  terrible  ;  an  old  frontiersman  might  as 
naturally  see  nothing  unusual  or  inappropriate  in  the  same  con- 
ditions. The  varied  reports,  however,  emphasized  the  truth  that 
it  is  hard  work  to  get  to  the  Klondike,  and  if  a  man  does  not  want 
to  rough  it  to  the  fullest  extent  he  had  better  stay  at  home  in 
civilization,  though,  if  he  is  willing  to  take  risks  and  endure 
hardships,  he  can  get  into  Dawson  with  reasonable  speed  and 
safety. 

After  Joaquin  Miller  was  fairly  afloat  on  the  Yukon  and  near- 
ing  Dawson  he  wrote  back  his  impressions  of  the  Chilkoot  Pass 
in  these  words  : 

"As  for  the  hardships,  I  find  they  have  been  mightily  multi- 
plied.     As  for  the  perils  there  are   really  none  to  speak  of  now. 


ADVENT  OF  WINTER.  537 

Of  course,  if  disposed  to  fret  or  find  fault,  you  can  make  the 
journey  down  the  Yukon  dreary  and  hard.  On  the  other  hand, 
if  you  have  any  heart  for  nature,  strange  scenes,  vast  lands  and 
indescribable  skies  you  will  find  delight  in  every  day  from  the 
time  you  touch  land  where  the  steamer  sets  you  down  at  Dyea 
till  here  in  sight  of  the  Klondike  as  we  are  now. 

The  Hardest  Climb. 

"  I  must  frankly  admit  that  the  Chilkoot  Pass  is  a  fearful 
climb  for  a  man  to  make  with  a  load  on  his  back.  But  it  is  not 
nearly  so  bad  as  the  climbing  of  Mount  Hood,  Mount  Shasta  or 
any  other  one  of  the  ten  or  a  dozen  peaks  that  I  have  climbed, 
and  hundreds  of  others  have  climbed  and  are  still  climbing,  and 
all  just  for  fun.  You  see,  all  these  things  depend  a  deal  on  the 
Ught  in  which  you  are  willing  to  view  them.  For  my  part,  while 
I,  as  a  truthful  chronicler,  confess  that  the  so-called  twenty-four 
miles  of  the  Chilkoot  seemed  to  me  to  be  about  forty,  with  my 
pack  on  my  back,  and  also  confess  that  my  feet  were  lame  and 
legs  weary,  and  my  back  felt  as  if  the  weight  of  a  century  lay 
upon  me,  yet  I  enjoyed  every  spot  of  it  as  entirely  as  ever  I  en- 
joyed the  ascent  of  any  steep  I  ever  made,  aye,  and  more  en- 
tirely, for  here  I  had  a  purpose  and  was  bearing  a  man's,  and  a 
strong  man's,  pack  in  the  battle  of  life  ;  not  climbing  for  the 
view  or  honors  of  it. 

"And  one  notable  difference  between  the  perils  and  hardships 
of  to-day  and  the  days  of  old  is  the  safety  from  savages.  We 
used  to  be  in  constant  danger,  and  no  man  went  about  by  day  or 
lay  down  at  night  in  the  Sierras  without  a  gun  or  two  at  his  side, 
and,  trained  to  the  old  life,  I  am  constantly  finding  myself  choos- 
ing my  bed  when  we  camp  on  the  river  bank  for  the  night  with 
cautious  guard  against  a  possible  arrow  by  light  of  our  camp 
fire.      But  the  men  with  us  who  have  been  years  on  the   Yukon 


538  ADVENT  OF  WINTER. 

select  resting  places  with  regard  only  to  comfort.  The  few 
Indians  in  this  vast  region  are  not  only  harmless,  but  very 
honest  and  inactive.  There  are  no  snakes,  and  I,  so  far,  have 
found  no  insects  of  any  sort  that  bother  anybody,  excepting  the 
mosquitoes  and  flies." 

S.   C.  Dunham's  Hard  Luck. 

Samuel  C.  Dunham,  the  statistical  expert  of  the  United  States 
Department  of  Labor,  who  had  been  assigned  by  Commissioner 
Wright  to  investigate  the  chances  for  the  remunerative  employ- 
ment of  American  labor  and  capital  in  the  Yukon  country,  had 
a  different  experience  in  getting  over  the  pass  from  Dyea.  His 
official  report,  sent  in  from  camp  on  Lake  Linderman,  contained 
the  following : 

"  I  left  Dyea  Monday  morning  at  1 1  o'clock  and  arrived  here 
Tuesday  evening  at  7.  My  four  Indians  started  ahead  of  me, 
but  I  have  not  seen  anything  of  them  since  the  start  and  am 
waiting  for  them  here.  When  I  reached  the  foot  of  the  summit 
a  terrible  storm  was  raging  on  the  pass,  and  I  presume  the 
Indians  went  into  camp  somewhere  on  the  other  side  to  await 
better  weather.  It  has  been  storming — rain,  sleet,  and  snow 
alternating — constantly  on  the  summit  since  Tuesday  morning 
and  the  situation  is  aggravated  by  a  piercing  wind  of  thirty  miles 
velocity.  I  had  an  awful  experience  coming  across  the  summit. 
I  started  out  with  my  handbag  strapped  on  my  back,  thinking 
that  as  it  weighed  only  forty  pounds  I  could  carry  it.  I  managed 
to  struggle  along  to  the  head  of  navigation  for  canoes,  six  miles 
from  Dyea,  and  was  there  forced  to  employ  an  Indian  packer, 
paying  him  $  i  o  to  carry  my  grip  to  Sheep  Camp,  twelve  miles 
from  Dyea. 

"  I  spent  the  night  at  Sheep  Camp,  which  is  merely  a  collec- 
tion of  tents,  and  started  for  the   summit  at   8   o'clock  Tuesday 


ADVENT  OF  WINTER.  539 

morning  in  a  drizzling,  cold  rain.  I  employed  a  packer  to  carry 
my  grip  from  there  to  Lake  Linderman,  paying  him  516.  At 
the  foot  of  the  summit  we  met  perhaps  a  liundred  Indian  and 
white  packers  who  had  cached  their  packs  on  the  trail  above 
and  were  returning  to  Sheep  Camp  to  await  an  abatement  of 
the  storm.  We  were  warned  that  it  was  dangcroL.s  to  attempt 
to  get  over,  but  as  the  wind  was  blowing  the  wny  wc  were  going, 
we  decided  to  go  ahead,  as  I  felt  sure  my  p  xkers  had  gone  on, 
and  I  wished  to  be  here  when  they  arrived.  The  distance  from 
the  foot  of  the  summit  to  the  top  is  said  to  be  three-quarters  of 
a  mile,  but  it  seems  like  five  miles. 

On  the  Trail. 

"  The  trail  ascends  at  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees,  skirting 
precipices,  where  a  misstep  would  hurl  one  a  thousand  feet 
below,  crossing  the  face  of  glaciers  as  smooth  as  glass,  and  in 
many  places  traversing  the  polished  surface  of  great  granite  bowl- 
ders hundreds  of  feet  in  extent.  Every  hundred  yards  or  so 
mountain  torrents,  fed  by  the  glaciers,  and  on  the  present  occa- 
sion augmented  by  the  rainfall,  rush  across  the  trail  and  have  to 
be  waded,  the  water  often  coming  to  the  knees.  Add  to  this  a 
gale  blowing  fifty  miles  an  hour,  with  sleet  and  snow  rushing 
horizontally  through  the  air  and  the  temperature  at  thirty 
degrees,  and  you  will  have  a  faint  idea  of  the  horrors  of  my  pas- 
sage across  the  summit.  After  struggling  up  a  steep  ascent  of 
twenty-five  or  thirty  feet,  I  would  be  forced  from  sheer  exhaus- 
tion to  rest  for  a  moment,  but  would  scarcely  stop  before  the 
chilling  wind  would  cut  me  to  the  marrow,  and  I  would  ha\e  to 
continue  my  course  to  keep  from  chilling  to  death.  Before  I 
reached  the  summit  I  was  wet  to  the  skin  and  my  boots  were 
full  of  water,  and  the  added  weight  of  the  water  made  it  almost 
impossible  to  proceed. 


540  ADVENT  OF  WINTER. 

"  I  finally  reached  this  camp,  at  the  head  of  Lalce  Linderman, 
about  7  o'clock  in  the  evening,  having  been  eleven  hours  in 
covering  twelve  miles,  so  exhausted  that  I  could  scarcely  drag 
one  foot  after  the  other.  I  had  a  letter  from  a  friend  to  a  gen- 
tleman who  is  in  camp  here,  and  I  was  kindly  received  by  him 
and  made  as  comfortable  as  possible  in  his  tent.  As  my 
Indians  had  not  arrived  I  had  no  change  of  underclothing, 
and  was  forced  to  accept  his  offer  of  a  suit  of  warm,  dry  under- 
clothing, and  these,  supplemented  by  half  a  teacupful  of  rum, 
brought  some  warmth  back  to  my  body.  I  remained  in  bed 
all  day  yesterday,  too  thoroughly  worn  out  to  move.  I  had 
some  fear  of  pneumonia,  but,  with  the  exception  of  some  sore- 
ness, am  feeling  fairly  well  this  morning." 

Via  the  White  Pass. 

T.  A.  Davies,  writing  of  the  White  Pass  route  just  before  the 
•trail  was  closed,  drew  a  none  too  inviting  picture  of  that  famous 
gateway  to  the  Klondike.  He  said  that  the  foot  of  the  first 
hill,  four  miles  out  of  Skagway,  3000  gold  seekers  were  in  camp 
at  one  time  trying  to  "  get  in."  Some  succeeded,  more  turned 
back  disheartened,  and  many  were  still  on  the  ground,  unable  to 
move,  when  he  passed  there  in  the  middle  of  September.  The 
camp  had  come  then  to  be  known  locally  as  "  Liarsville  :" 

"  At  the  foot  of  this  hill  tons  of  abundant  provisions  can  be 
seen — wagon  loads  of  oranges,  apples  and  onions — which  specu- 
lators had  intended  taking  to  the  Klondike,  hoping  to  realize 
handsomely  thereon.  Among  piles  of  goods  are  seen  numer- 
ous boats,  originally  intended  for  immediate  use  on  arrival  at 
the  lakes,  but  now  they  are  left  to  rot  with  the  other  useless 
supplies.  A  great  many  improvised  signs  on  trees  tell  of  per- 
sons having  goods  for  sale  all  along  the  trail.  From  the  foot 
of  the  first  hill  to  the  summit  of  Porcupine  hill  is  a  gradual  rise 


ADVENT  OF  WINTER.  541 

of  four  miles,  and  then  a  descent  to  what  is  known  as  the  First 
Bridge  over  the  Skagway  river.  To  the  third  crossing  of  the 
river  the  passage  is  simply  a  repetition  of  the  first  three  miles 
— mud  and  dead  horses  on  every  side.  At  the  third  bridge 
the  first  camp  of  any  size  is  reached.  A  cut-off  around  one  of 
the  larger  hills  has  been  blasted  out  of  tlie  solid  rock,  and  this 
is  followed  until  the  ford  is  reached.  This  ford  is  the  last  cross- 
ing of  the  river. 

"  A  climb  of  an  hour  and  the  summit  of  White  Pass  is 
reached,  half  way  from  Skagway  to  Lake  Bennett.  About 
three  inches  of  snow  have  fallen.  The  wind  blows  a  gale  and 
dashes  snow,  sleet  and  rain  in  the  face  of  the  prospector.  The 
snow  and  sleet  are  so  blinding,  even  at  this  season  of  the  year, 
that  it  often  is  necessar>^  for  the  prospector  to  double  on  his 
track  for  the  purpose  of  finding  the  trail. 

On  to   Lake  Bennett. 

"  Leaving  the  lower  end  of  Shallow  Lake,  the  beginning  of 
the  last  tramp  toward  Lake  Bennett  begins.  The  trail  runs 
through  timber,  meadows  and  marshes,  affording  a  pleasant  di- 
versity of  scene.  This  is  by  far  the  best  portion  of  the  Skag- 
way trail.  Within  a  distance  of  ten  miles  twent}'  marshes  are 
crossed.  On  every  hand  evidence  of  the  final  rush  to  reach 
water  before  the  freeze  may  be  observed.  Immense  pack  trains 
are  hurrying  along.  Blockades  of  horses  and  goods  arc  of 
hourly  occurrence,  and  the  oaths  of  the  men  turn  the  air  blue. 
The  prize  is  almost  lost  in  sight,  and  the  men  feel  that  it  must 
not  be  lost  by  delay  at  the  final  point.  Prices  suddenly  become 
very  high.  Oats  sell  for  $40  per  100  pounds.  Two  miles  from 
Lake  Bennett  and  the  sound  of  hammers,  axes  and  saws  is  heard. 
Crowds  of  men,  felling  trees  and  cutting  timber,  are  eloquent  of 
the  struggle  to  get  material  for  boats. 


542  ADVENT  OF  WINTER. 

"  Reaching  Lake  Bennett  the  beach  is  covered  with  tents, 
their  occupants  impatiently  waiting  to  get  away.  A  strong 
breeze  disturbs  the  surface  of  the  lake,  and  the  boats  put  out  as 
they  are  completed,  with  all  manner  of  rigging.  One  that  I 
noticed  had  a  bed  blanket  for  a  sail.  The  wind  takes  the  boat 
in  a  direct  line  towards  the  mighty  Yukon,  and  it  soon  passes 
out  of  view.  The  proverbial  honesty  of  mining  camps  does  not 
prevail  at  Lake  Bennett.  Instances  of  stealing  are  so  common 
that  ever}^  one  leaves  a  guard  on  duty  with  his  goods  all  the 
time. 

"A  few  days  ago  three  men  started  down  the  Yukon  together. 
After  going  thirty-five  miles,  two  of  them  landed  to  see  a  friend 
on  shore.  The  third  stole  the  entire  outfit  and  went  on  down, 
compelling  the  two  who  had  landed  to  tramp  back  through  a 
wilderness  of  woods  to  Camp  Bennett,  which  they  had  reached 
during  my  stay  there. 

Universal  Demand  for  Boats. 

"  Boats  are  one  great  commodity  at  Lake  Bennett..  Every- 
body wants  one.  A  small,  wheezy  sawmill  attempts  to  supply 
lumber  and  boats.  All  the  lumber  it  can  cut — looo  feet  a  day 
— is  readily  gobbled  up  at  75  cents  a  lineal  foot.  An  ordinary 
river  boat  sells  for  $300,  larger  ones  for  $400  and  I500.  A 
passenger  for  Dawson  City  without  goods  can  buy  a  passage  in 
one  of  these  boats,  or  rather  a  place  big  enough  to  sit  down  in, 
for  $100.  Most  of  the  boats  carry  four  or  five  passengers  in 
addition  to  the  regular  supply  of  goods.  When  a  party  finds 
that  it  has  room  left  in  a  boat  a  sign  is  placed  on  a  convenient 
tree  offering  passage  for  men,  and  possibly  for  goods,  at  stated 
price. 

"  Leaving  Lake  Bennett  and  walking  half  a  mile  to  the  south- 
west, the  worst  section  of  the  rapids  in  the  portage  between  Lake 


ADVENT  OF  WINTER.  543 

Linderman  and  Lake  Bennett  is  reached.  Here  many  prospectors, 
after  a  hard  struggle  in  the  mountain  passes,  have  lost  all  in 
attempting  to  shoot  the  rapids  without  unloading  their  boats.  It 
is  here,  also,  that  one  comes  to  a  little  rude  inclosure,  bearing  a 
sign  telling  that  all  that  is  earthly  of  J.  W.  Mathes  is  there  buried. 
A  year  ago  Mathes  and  a  party  of  his  fellows  got  so  far  on  their 
way  to  the  Yukon  gold  fields.  Mathes  fell  and  broke  one  of  the 
small  bones  in  his  leg.  Being  already  discouraged  and  dis- 
heartened, and  believing  that  he  never  would  reach  the  gold 
fields,  anyway,  and  that  if  his  companions  were  obliged  to  bring 
him  back  to  the  coast  they  would  blame  him  for  their  lost  for- 
tunes, he  placed  a  revolver  to  his  head  and  killed  himself.  The 
site  of  his  grave  is  now  one  of  the  best-known  landmarks  on  the 
route  to  the  Klondike  gold  fields.  At  this  place  the  boats  are 
usually  unloaded  and  the  goods  carried  around  the  dangerous 
rapids,  and  the  boat  then  floated  down  empty.  The  afternoon  I 
reached  the  portage  one  party  had  unloaded  all  its  goods  and 
was  letting  the  boat  through  the  rapids  after  the  usual  methods 
of  lining  it  down.  One  man  remained  in  the  boat  to  steer,  and 
three  men  on  shore  held  the  rope  to  keep  the  rapids  from  carry- 
ing it  out  of  reach.  When  fairly  started  the  rope  broke  and  the 
boat  went  down  the  rapids  like  a  shot.  By  rare  good  fortune  a 
friendly  current  carried  the  boat  to  a  sand-spit  and  it  was  saved  : 
but  instances  are  numerous  where  men  have  not  been  so  fortu- 
nate." 

"Woes  of  the  Horses. 

The  demand  for  transportation  over  the  passes  was  the  cause 
of  bringing  in  hundreds  of  horses  to  be  used  as  pack  animals  and 
supplement  the  Indians  in  the  arduous  work  of  getting  supplies 
and  outfits  from  the  coast  to  the  head  of  river  navigation.  The 
experiment  was  in  the  main  profitable  to  the  owners,  for  the 
prices  for  packing  made  a  horse  pay  for  himself  in  a  compara- 


544  ADVENT  OF  WINTER. 

tively  few  trips,  but  the  mortality  among  the  poor  beasts  was 
something  unparalleled. 

On  the  Skagway  trail,  or  White  Pass,  as  many  as  1200  horses 
were  in  use  at  one  time  after  the  trail  was  fairly  opened  in  the 
middle  of  September,  but  of  this  number  it  was  estimated  not 
one  hundred  would  be  alive  in  a  month's  time.  Even  then 
(September  i  5th)  600  dead  horses  could  be  counted  along  the 
trail.  Many  of  these  were  the  victims  of  accidents,  but  by  far 
the  greater  number  had  succumbed  to  exhaustion  and  disease. 
Poor  food,  and  not  too  much  of  it,  made  them  weaker  day  by 
day,  and  pneumonia,  the  result  of  getting  chilled  at  night,  swept 
them  off  by  scores. 

On  the  Dyea  trail,  or  Chilkoot  Pass,  not  so  many  norses  were 
employed,  and  the  visible  mortality  was  consequently  less,  but 
at  that,  at  least  1 50  dead  animals  lay  beside  the  trail  when  T.  A. 
Davies  passed  over  it  in  September.  The  unfortunate  beasts  had 
been  left  to  perish  where  they  fell  from  fatigue. 

Enormous  Prices  for  Transportation. 

The  loss  of  horses  had  a  material  effect  on  the  packing  tariff. 
A  contract  for  the  entire  White  Pass  trail  was  almost  an  impossi- 
bility to  make,  and  the  aggregate  price  sometimes  reached  as 
high  as  one  dollar  a  pound.  The  largest  long  contract  reported 
during  the  fall  was  for  ;^30,ooo,  with  the  Canadian  Government, 
for  moving  the  supplies  for  twenty-five  of  the  Canadian  mounted 
police. 

An  official  survey  ordered  by  the  Dominion  government  to 
locate  if  possible  a  new  and  more  practicable  trail  to  the  upper 
Yukon,  reported  an  easy  and  comparatively  short  cut  to  Selkirk 
or  Dawson  from  the  seaboard  and  one  suitable  for  cattle,  wagon 
or  railroad.  J.  M.  McArthur,  who  was  in  charge  of  the  party, 
made  the   following  preliminary  report  of  its   work  when    he 


ADVENT  OF  WINTER.  545 

passed  through  Juneau  in  September.  It  will  be  seen  the  old 
Dalton  trail  was  made  use  of  for  some  distance  : 

"  From  the  extreme  left  of  the  Chilkoot  Pass  the  party  headed 
northwest  for  a  point  about  lOO  miles  inland,  where  Dalton  and 
others  have  a  trading  post.  Thence  they  took  a  course  north  to 
a  chain  of  small  lakes  called  Hootchie  Eye.  So  far  the  course 
was  over  what  is  known  as  the  Dalton  trail,  which,  from  the 
Hootchie  Eye,  continues  down  the  river  sixty  miles  to  the  Lewis 
River,  but  from  the  Hootchie  Eye,  Dalton  struck  out  due  north 
for  Fort  Selkirk,  into  a  country  120  miles  across,  never  before 
explored  by  a  white  man  and  totally  unknown.  Such  is  the 
wonderful  instinct  of  this  man  that  the  entire  party  came  out  of 
the  wilderness  at  a  point  directly  beyond  the  buildings  at  Fort 
Selkirk,  in  the  Yukon,  at  the  mouth  of  Pelly  River,  where  the 
Yukon  proper  begins. 

"  Plenty  of  grazing  for  the  cattle  was  found.  The  country  is 
characterized  by  comparatively  low  and  rolling  mountains,  over 
which  the  party  went. 

Advice  from  Wrangel. 

United  States  Commissioner  Kenneth  M.  Jackson,  writing  of 
the  various  routes  into  the  Klondike,  had  this  to  say  which  may 
not  come  amiss  as  a  pointer  for  those  who  choose  to  take  time 
to  pick  their  way  to  the  diggings  : 

"  Of  all  the  routes  into  the  Yukon  country  I  would  advise  the 
one  via  Wrangel,  the  Stikine  River,  and  Lake  Teslin,  as  pre- 
senting less  difficulties  and  hardships.  By  next  spring  the  only 
portion  of  this  route  that  cannot  be  made  by  steamboat  or  rail 
will  be  over  an  easy  pack  trail  from  the  Stikine  to  Lake  Teslin, 
a  distance  of  about  135  miles,  and  upon  which  the  British  Col- 
umbia government  is  now  spending  money,  and  over  which  a 
wagon  or  railroad  will  be  constructed  very  soon.  From  Lake 
35 


646  ADVENT  OF  WINTER. 

Teslin  down  the  Hootalingua  to  the  mines  one  or  two  steamboats 
will  be  running  next  year.  I  advisedly  caution  persons  from 
attempting  the  trip  till  next  spring,  and  when  they  do  start,  if 
possible,  arrange  to  buy  a  year's  supply  of  grub  per  capita  when 
they  get  to  the  coast.  One  can  get  better  information  as  to  what 
is  needed  here  than  at  home." 

W.  A.  Pratt,  sent  in  by  the  Yukon  Mining  and  Trading  Com- 
pany, of  Wilmington,  Delaware,  reconnoitered  what  he  declared 
w^as  a  practicable  route  for  a  railroad  from  the  head  of  Taku 
Inlet  to  Lake  Teslin.  The  Canadian  Pacific  had  a  party  out 
during  the  fall  running  a  line  for  a  railroad  from  Lake  Teslin  to 
Telegraph  Creek. 

Tramway  at    Chilkoot  Pass. 

Out  of  the  many  schemes  for  rail  transportation  over  the 
mountains,  the  first  to  take  definite  shape  in  action  was  that 
for  a  tramway  over  Chilkoot  Pass.  The  engineer's  plans  were 
in  working  order  early  in  October,  and  the  first  of  the  material 
had  then  begun  to  arrive  on  the  ground  at  Dyea.  Seventeen 
miles  of  inch  wire  cable  will  be  used  in  constructing  the  eight 
and  a  half  miles  of  aerial  tramway  by  which  freight  will  be 
transported  seven  and  a  half  miles,  lifted  to  the  summit  of  the 
pass  and  let  down  again  to  Crater  Lake.  The  road  will  be  a 
broad  guage,  with  a  daily  capacity  of  1 20  tons  of  fr.'ight,  or  the 
outfits  for  120  men.  The  contract  calls  for  the  c -mpletion  of 
the  road  by  January'  15,  1898,  and  then  it  is  expose,  d  the  jour- 
ney from  tidewater  to  Dawson  can  be  made  in  less  than  forty 
days  and  with  an  immense  economy  in  men  and  money. 

Among  the  novel  schemes — which  at  the  same  tirn.e  had  an 
air  of  practicableness — for  getting  into  the  Yukon  basin  during 
the  winter  season,  was  that  of  the  snow  locomotive,  invented  by 
George  T.  Glover,  of  Chicago.     The   snow  train   had  been  in 


ADVENT  OF  WINTER.  647 

successful  operation  in  the  pineries  of  Michigan  for  two  years, 
hauling  on  runners  great  loads  of  logs  and  making  fairly  good 
time  over  considerable  grades. 

When  the  reports  of  probable  starvation  in  the  Klondike 
region  made  it  a  matter  of  instant  importance  for  the  General 
Government  to  prepare  for  the  exigency  by  ascertaining  the  best 
and  speediest  means  by  which  supplies  could  be  transported 
from  the  coast  to  Dawson,  General  Alger,  the  Secretary,  to 
whom  the  Glover  log  locomotive  was  familiar,  bethought  himself 
at  once  of  the  snow  train,  and  at  the  same  time  Mr.  Glover 
bethought  himself  of  the  Secretary  of  War.  The  result  was  a 
series  of  conferences  in  Washington,  the  matter  was  laid  before 
the  Cabinet,  and  it  was  practically  agreed  that,  if  it  became 
necessary  to  succor  starving  argonauts,  the  Glover  snow  locomo- 
tive should  be  used.  It  was  estimated  that  a  train  carrying  loo 
tons  of  freight  and  passengers  could  be  pulled  by  this  locomo- 
tive over  the  passes,  across  the  plains  and  down  the  river  on 
the  snow  and  ice,  from  Fort  Wrangel  to  Dawson,  in  less  than 
ten  days,  and  could  keep  lowering  the  record  as  the  road  be- 
came worn,  until  not  more  than  six  days  each  way  would  be 
consumed." 

Caught  on  the  Trail. 

Of  all  the  thousands  who  started  for  Dawson  by  the  various 
routes  before  the  winter  had  laid  an  embargo  on  the  mountain 
passes  or  blocked  the  Yukon  with  ice,  it  w^as  variously  estimated 
from  the  civilized  end  of  the  line  that  from  6000  to  7000  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  their  destination.  How  many  others  were 
forced  to  winter  at  intermediate  points  was  beyond  accurate 
computation — the  region  to  be  covered  was  too  vast  and  there 
were  too  many  vicissitudes  of  climate  and  trail  to  be  figured  on. 

On  the  White  Pass  trail,  late  in  September,  there  were  at  least 
1 200  gold  seekers,  of  whom  probably  not  more  than   300  sue- 


548  ADVENT  OF  WINTER. 

ceeded  in  reaching  the  lakes,  the  rest  being  caught  by  snow  and 
ice.  On  the  Chilkoot  Pass  trail  there  were  probably  as  many 
more  in  all  stages  of  progress  and  predicament.  Perhaps  half 
this  number  made  out  to  get  to  Dawson,  or  at  least  well  down 
the  rivers.  All  those  who  remained  behind  had  only  the  alter- 
native to  build  log  cabins  on  the  trail  and  camp  for  the  season, 
or  leave  their  goods  and  make  a  perilous  struggle  back  to  civili- 
zation. Camps  approaching  the  dignity  of  small  towns  were 
established  at  Lake  Bennett  and  Lake  Linderman  when  the  first 
^  snow  came,  and  many  went  into  permanent  winter  quarters  at 
once,  reasonmg  that  it  would  not  cost  more  in  supplies  to  winter 
there  than  in  Klondike,  and  that  by  saving  their  health  and  re- 
maining at  the  advanced  post  they  would  have  a  good  start  in 
strength  and  distance  and  could  be  the  first  "  in  "  in  the  spring. 
Among  the  300  in  camp  at  Lake  Linderman  were  a  number  of 
women  and  children. 

Snow  and  Low  Temperature. 

One  of  the  proprietors  of  the  saw  mill  at  Lake  Bennett  reached 
Juneau  on  October  7th,  and  reported  a  heavy  snowfall  on  the 
headwaters  of  the  Yukon  when  he  left.  On  the  morning  of 
October  3d  the  thermometer  showed  eight  degrees  below  zero, 
and  the  boats  in  the  river  had  to  be  cut  out  of  the  ice. 

The  McKay  party,  which  contained  a  number  of  women,  had 
reached  Lake  Bennett  and  was  about  to  start  down  the  river, 
insufficiently  clad  and  provisioned.  The  Canadian  poHce  were 
debating  stopping  the  part>%  considering  the  attempt  to  make 
Dawson  would  be  little  less  than  suicide. 

Captain  Tuttle,  of  the  United  States  revenue  cutter  Bear,  sent 
in  an  official  report  from  St.  Michael's,  dated  September  i6th,  in 
which  he  said : 

"  There  are  in  port  seven  seagoing  vessels  and  six  river  steam- 


ADVENT  OF  WINTER.  549 

ers,  with  one  steamer  and  one  barge  in  process  of  construction 
on  the  beach.  About  300  people  are  encamped  on  the  beach 
awaiting  the  completion  of  these  vessels.  At  least  seven  vessels 
are  expected  to  arrive,  many  of  tlicm  with  passengers.  There 
is  no  possible  chance  of  these  people  reaching  the  Upper  Yukon 
this  season,  and  they  must  winter  here  or  at  some  point  inside 
the  mouth  of  the  Yukon.  While  there  will  be  an  abundance  of 
provisions,  the  trading  companies  having  their  main  depots  here, 
trouble  is  likely  to  arise  from  those  who  have  no  provisions  and 
no  means  to  purchase  them.  This,  however,  is  a  small  matter 
when  taken  into  consideration  with  matters  above  Fort  Yukon 
on  the  Yukon  River. 

"  On  September  1 3th  the  river  steamer  Hamilton  returned  from 
its  up-river  trip,  having  been  unable  to  reach  Circle  City.  Cap- 
tain Hill  reported  the  river  so  low  as  to  prevent  his  reaching  his 
destination." 

Danger  of  Starvation. 

Probably  enough  more  argonauts  reached  St.  Michael's  after 
Captain  Tuttle's  letter  left  to  raise  the  total  number  prepared  to 
winter  there  to  600  or  even  Uyice  that  number. 

Captain  Tuttle  closed  his  official  communication  with  this 
suggestion  : 

"  Laws  in  regard  to  the  inspection  of  steam  vessels  are  entirely 
disregarded,  as  no  inspector  of  hulls  or  boilers  has  visited  this 
place.  At  least  sixteen  such  vessels  are  now  running  in  this 
part  ot  Alaska.  If  I  should  seize  them  starvation  would  ensue 
to  those  who  are  depending  upon  these  vessels  to  bring  them 
provisions.  At  the  same  time  hundreds  of  people  are  traveling 
on  these  vessels,  which  are  without  the  safeguards  to  life  that  the 
law  provides  they  shall  have. 

"A  deputy  collector  of  customs  is  stationed  at  St.  Michael's, 
who  is  required  to  attend  to  all  customs  business.     Frequently 


550  ADVENT  OF  WIN  TER. 

there  are  several  vessels  in  port  discharging  bonded  goods  at  the 
same  time.  It  is  impossible  for  one  man  to  attend  to  all  this 
business.  After  leaving  St.  Michael's  there  is  no  customs  officer 
in  charge  of  these  goods.  Vessels  frequently  get  aground,  and 
it  is  necessary  to  discharge  their  cargoes  before  they  can  be 
floated.  Great  opportunities  are  afforded  to  defraud  the  cus- 
toms. There  should  be  a  customs  officer  on  every  vessel  carry- 
ing bonded  goods,  and  provision  should  be  made  to  have  the 
vessels  inspected  as  the  law  requires." 

At  Dawson   City. 

The  prospect  for  Dawson  City  at  the  beginning  of  winter  indi- 
cated a  population  in  the  town  of  about  7000  and  in  the  tribu- 
tary country  of  half  as  many  more.  Considerable  building  en- 
terprise had  been  displayed  and  log  houses  were  multiplying  foi 
residences,  while  commodious  business  houses  were  rising  along 
Water  Street.  The  new  Mission  house  was  expected  to  be  in 
full  readiness  for  its  works  of  charity  by  the  time  the  ice  season 
was  fairly  settled.  The  new  opera  house  or  music  hall  was  in 
full  blast  and  in  general  the  promise  was  for  a  bu.stling,  thriving 
town.  Lots  in  Water  Street  the  first  of  October  sold  for  $10,000 
and  lots  for  cabins  at  proportionate  rates. 

St.  Michael's,  old  Yukoness  thought,  stood  a  chance  to  be  the 
winter  haven  of  the  easily  disheartened  overflow  from  Dawson. 
When  the  low  water  in  the  river  delayed  the  arrival  of  the  boats 
with  provisions  many  took  fright  and  started  down  stream  to 
meet  the  supplies  or  force  their  way  through  to  the  sea.  Others 
formed  parties  to  go  out  en  route  to  civilization  and  the  combina- 
tion made  quite  an  exodus.  The  Klondikers  who  stayed  behind, 
however,  were  not  troubled  by  the  departures — they  meant  fewer 
mouths  to  feed  and  more  claims  to  "  go  around." 

Returning  steamers  from  Sitka,  Juneau  and  other  ports  late  in 


ADVENT  OF  WINTER.  551 

the  fcill  brou<;ht  full  complements  of  ^old  seekers  who  had  been 
beaten  by  delays  or  the  climate  in  getting  over  the  passes,  and 
preferred  to  spend  their  money  in  steamer  fares  to  reach  the 
homes  and  flesh  pots  of  civilization  for  the  winter,  rather  than  in 
paying  boom  prices  for  bare  subsistence  in  such  already  over- 
crowded towns  as  Skagway,  Juneau  and  Dyea.  It  is  estimated 
that  over  a  thousand  argonauts  had  returned  to  Washington, 
Oregon  and  California  in  this  way  by  the  middle  of  October. 

Among  the  last  to  go  in  by  way  of  St.  Michael's  was  Lieu- 
tenant Colonel  Randall,  U.  S.  A.,  who  took  with  him  twenty-five 
soldiers  from  Fort  Russell  and  an  outfit  of  i  50  tons  of  stores 
and  provisions.  Part  of  the  detachment  was  to  be  stationed  at 
St.  Michael's  and  the  rest  were  to  go  up  the  river  near  the  inter- 
national boundary. 

Growth  of  Skagway. 

Skagway  is  one  Alaskan  town  which  owes  its  existence  to  gold, 
though  there  is  none  of  the  precious  metal  there,  except  what 
has  been  brought  in  and  "dropped"  by  argonauts  rushing  to 
the  Klondike  placers.  It  owes  its  standing  as  a  town  to  the 
lucky  fact  that  it  is  the  natural  landing  place  for  the  White  Pass, 
and  to  the  additional  fact  that  owing  to  the  lateness  of  opening 
this  trail  several  thousands  of  men  had  to  linger  in  Skagway  for 
many  weeks  waiting  and  struggling  for  the  coveted  chance  to 
get  out. 

Two  pictures  of  the  place  are  of  interest.  In  August,  1897, 
Hal  Hoffman  wrote  of  this  "  half-way  to  Klondike  and  stuck  " 
town,  as  it  was  then  familiarly  called  : 

"  This  is  a  city  of  eleven  frame  or  log  houses,  a  saw  mill,  five 
stores,  four  saloons,  a  crap  game,  a  faro  layout,  blacksmith  shop, 
five  restaurants  which  are  feeding  people  all  the  time,  a  tailor 
shop,  on  which  is  hung  the  sign,  '  Bloomers  fitted  for  shotguns,' 
a  real  estate  office,  two  practicing  physicians,  another  professional 


552  ADVENT  OF  WINTER. 

pathfinder  whose  specialty  is  shown  by  the  sign  painted  on  a 
board  nailed  to  a  tree,  '  Teeth  extracted,'  some  300  tents,  and  a 
population  of  about  2000  men  and  seventeen  women.  Four  of 
the  women  are  accompanying  their  husbands  into  the  Klondike, 
the  others  are  unchapcroned.  A  dance  hall  will  be  erected  next 
week.  Skagway  is  already  a  typical  mining  camp.  Its  popula- 
tion is  proud  of  it.  They  go  further  and  say  it  will  be  a  '  hot 
town  '  next  winter.  Streets  have  been  laid  out.  Broadway  runs 
from  high  tide  four  miles  back  to  the  mountain  base  and  is  walled 
with  tents,  piles  of  supplies  and  felled  trees.  The  gold  seekers 
never  overlook  an  opportunity  to  make  fun  drown  their  im- 
patience." 

As  it  Developed. 

In  the  latter  part  of  September,  when  all  but  the  hardiest  or 
those  who  had  determined  to  winter  there  or  to  take  up  a  more 
permanent  residence  had  left  the  town,  another  wrote  of  the  same 
place  in  different  terms  thus  : 

"Skagway  is  a  conglomoration  of  all  nationalities.  All  kinds 
of  buildings — or,  rather,  lack  of  buildings — are  in  evidence. 
Sidewalks  are  unknown.  One  just  wades  and  wades.  The  first 
requisite  is  a  pair  of  rubber  boots — good,  long  ones. 

"  Along  each  side  of  Broadway,  the  main  street,  are 
ranged  the  business  houses.  There  are  about  tw^enty  saloons, 
eleven  blacksmith  shops,  thirty  restaurants  and  bakeries  and 
fifty  miscellaneous  lines,  dance  halls,  hotels,  custom  houses, 
etc.,  while  the  Territorial  Surveyor  and  his  deputies  find  room 
to  do  a  good  business.  This  is  a  mecca  for  speculators.  On 
one  corner  the  dismayed  prospector,  outfitted  completely  for  the 
Yukon,  has  decided  to  abandon  his  trip  and  is  selling  his  flour 
for,  perhaps,  50  cents  a  sack.  Within  fifteen  minutes  after  he 
has  sold  the  flour  the  speculative  purchaser  is  offering  it  from 
$2  to  ;^3  a  sack. 


ADVENT  OV  WINTKR.  553 

"  Skagway  now  has  about  lOO  frame  buildings,  a  population 
approaching  i  200,  and  committees  for  almost  every  conceivable 
purpose — from  a  committee  on  removing  dead  horses  to  com- 
mittees to  look  after  the  numerous  correspondents  of  Eastern 
dailies — the  latter  committee  having  even  more  to  do  than  the 
dead  horse  committee.  Skagway  really  is  an  orderly  town  from 
a  frontier  standpoint.  Comparatively  few  robberies  are  re- 
ported, when  the  great  number  of  miscellaneous  specimens  of 
humanity  who  have  rushed  in  there  is  considered.  To  be  sure, 
probably  not  half  the  population  know  when  Sunday  comes — 
in  fact,  there  is  no  Sunday  in  Skagway,  Saloons  and  all  kinds 
of  gambling  games — keno,  faro,  black  jack,  poker,  roulette — 
flourish  by  day  and  by  night,  seven  days  and  seven  nights  each 
week,  without  interruption.  The  only  cloud  that  appears  on  the 
gambler's  horizon  is  the  appearance  of  the  deputy  United  States 
marshals,  which  usually  threatens  a  seizure  of  liquors,  providing 
there  is  an  overabundance.  The  liquor  traffic  presents  a  peculiar 
complication  at  this  place.  It  is  not  an  offense,  as  the  law  is  ad- 
ministered, to  sell  whisky  except  to  Indians  ;  but  if  the  liquor  is 
found  in  a  person's  possession  the  liquor  is  liable  to  seizure. 
Most  saloon  men,  therefore,  carry  very  small  stocks  '  in  sight,' 
tha  balance  being  conveniently  '  cached'  in  nearby  places." 

Glacier  Slide  and  Flood. 

On  the  morning  of  September  iSth  a  terrible  glacier-slide  and 
deluge  swept  down  the  Chilkoot  Pass  and  three  men  lost  their 
lives,  one,  Morris  Choynski,  a  cousin  of  Joe  Choynski,  the  pugilist. 
His  body  alone  was  recovered.  About  twenty-five  campers  had 
pitched  their  tents  on  the  dry  ground  in  the  bed  of  the  river 
when  suddenly  the  cry  went  forth,  about  seven  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  that  the  glacier  was  falling.  Every  one  made  for  the 
hills,  and  the  coming  torrent,   two  miles  away,   sounded  like 


554  ADVENT  OF  WINTER. 

thunder  or  the  roar  of  heavy  artillery.  On  came  the  waters  in  a 
wall  twenty  feet  high,  moving  massive  rocks  like  pebbles  and 
sweeping  everything  before  them.  All  the  tents  and  goods 
along  the  river  were  lost  and  only  twenty-two  of  the  campers 
succeeded  in  saving  their  lives.  A  deposit  of  sand  from  one  to 
two  feet  thick  marked  the  path  of  the  awful  flood. 

Reports  of  disasters  on  the  lakes  and  at  the  fords  on  the 
trails  were  numerous  as  the  severe  weather  drew  on,  but  happily 
most  of  them  proved  to  be  unfounded  rumors.  Many  upsets 
occurred,  and  a  quantity  of  supplies  was  lost  from  the  boats, 
but  the  number  of  serious  casualties  was  remarkably  small  con- 
sidering the  number  of  men  exposed  and  the  excellent  oppor- 
tunities for  accidents. 

Comparative  Absence  of  Crime. 

Crime  and  its  corollary,  Lynch  law,  happily  made  few  public 
appearances  along  the  trails  when  the  great  rush  was  stopped 
by  the  winter.  The  known  cases  had  a  semblance  of  ample 
cause  and  effect,  according  to  frontier  ethics,  except  in  the  one 
instance  of  the  Buchanan-Kossuth  murder  and  suicide  at  Skag- 
W'ay,  which  was  entirely  a  cold-blooded  affair  and  one  in  no  way 
chargeable  upon  the  argonauts.  The  comparative  peacefulness 
and  honesty  which  reigned  along  the  trails,  considering  the  great 
temptations  to  greed  and  high  temper  which  marked  the  condi- 
tions, were  a  marked  tribute  to  the  character  of  the  gold  hunters 
of  '97. 

One  of  the  most  important  contributions  which  Alaska  made 
to  the  sum  of  human  knowledge  in  1897  was  something  which 
could  not  be  weighed  in  the  gold  scales  or  discounted  at  a 
bank,  and  yet  in  another  sense  was  of  more  permanent  value 
to  the  w^orld  than  the  diggings  themselves.  This  was  the  suc- 
cessful scaling  of  Mount  St.  Elias,  the  corner  post  of  Alaska  and 


ADVENT  Ol'    WINTF.R.  555 

hitherto  regarded  as  the  one  inaccessible  spot  remaining  on  the 
North  American  continent. 

The  successful  ascent  was  accomplished  by  the  party  headed 
by  Prince  Luigi  Amadeo,  of  Savoy,  a  nephew  of  King  Humbert, 
of  Italy,  and  a  mountain  climber  of  world-wide  fame  and  expe- 
rience. The  party  included  Clevalier  M.  Cagni,  Francesco 
Gonella,  President  of  the  Turin  Section  of  Alpine  climbers  ; 
Vittorio  Selle  and  Dr.  Fillippo  de  Fillippi,  all  noted  Alpine 
experts.  The  party  measured  the  height  of  the  peak,  up  to 
that  time  estimated  only,  and  that  within  a  range  of  several 
hundred  feet,  ascertaining  the  exact  elevation  to  be  18,120  feet, 
an  important  geographical  and  engineering  fact. 

The  first  expedition  to  attempt  to  scale  Mt.  St.  Elias  was  led 
by  Lieutenant  Schwatka  in  1886.  Two  years  later  WiUiam 
Williams  and  the  Messrs.  Forham,  of  London,  England,  made 
the  attempt  and  failed.  T.  C.  Russell,  of  the  United  States 
Geological  Survey,  made  two  attempts — one  in  1890,  and  the 
second  a  year  later.  Both  were  unsuccessful,  though  the  ex- 
plorer reached  a  greater  height  than  any  of  his  predecessors, 
turning  back  only  at  an  altitude  of  14,500  feet,  or  3620  feet 
below  the  summit. 

Klondike  has  a  Permanent  Interest. 

The  interest  in  Alaska  and  its  gold  deposits,  widespread  and 
universal  as  it  is,  will  very  likely  increase  with  the  advance  of  time. 
A  marvelous  region  is  this  northwest  Territory,  great  in  natural 
vvonders  and  great  in  wealth.  Where  gold  is,  there  men  will  go, 
whether  to  the  tropics  or  the  Arctic  regions,  the  heats  of  the 
equator  or  the  realms  of  endless  frost.   ' 

That  hundreds,  perhaps  thousands,  will  lose  their  lives  is  only 
to  be  expected,  yet  thousands  of  others  will  rush  forward  as  men 
do  in  battle  to  take  the  places  of  their  comrades*  who  have  fallen. 


556  ADVENT  OF  WINTER. 

Some  will  survive  the  dangers,  outlive  the  trials,  and  by  over- 
coming almost  miraculous  obstacles,  will  gain  the  coveted  treas- 
ures. Stories  that  never  have  been  surpassed  in  tragic  interest 
are  yet  to  be  told  concerning  Klondike,  and  very  likely  all  that 
has  been  written  and  said  in  the  past  will  be  overshadowed  by 
events  that  are  yet  to  come. 

It  is  not  likely  that  Mt.  St.  Elias  will  be  ascended  again  for 
many  years,  perhaps  not  in  the  present  generation,  but  these 
mountains,  valleys  and  gulches  are  sure  to  be  explored.  The 
enterprising  Yankee  will  be  found  in  every  nook  and  corner  of 
Alaska,  and  if  there  is  any  money  there  to  be  found  he  will  pick 
it  up.  Every  man  will  think  it  possible  for  every  man  to  fail  ex- 
cept himself  Many  will  trust  to  luck  and  later  will  be  sorry  for 
it.  Others  will  go  about  mining  intelHgently,  understanding  ex- 
actly what  they  are  doing,  and  they  are  the  ones  who  will  suc- 
ceed and  bring  home  the  yellow  nuggets. 


T^f^%^ 


